The Roaring of The Sea
by Kushinada Uzumaki
Summary: AU: This time things could be different. They only had one more shot at a better future, one without the bloodshed and useless betrayals. But how does one change what isn't the same to begin with? Time Travel! Reality Travel! Fem!Naru.
1. Prologue: Ruins

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 **The Roaring of The Sea.**

 **Chapter 1: Prologue: Ruins.**

Their final battle took place where it all began, even before their battle four years ago the Valley of the End had been reshaped in the past, and now it was nearly unrecognizable once again. Uzumaki Naruto looked at her best friend (maybe more if things had been different) sadly. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, but she hadn't given up. If anyone who knew Naru were asked, they'd say she didn't know how to give up, it wasn't in her vocabulary.

She had gone so far for him, yet they were now on death's door. She knew Sakura and Kakashi, the only ones not trapped in the Mugen Tsukuyomi, weren't going to reach them in time. Her blonde hair was stained red, like the clan she was apart of (like her mother's hair). Ever since she'd met the fragment of her mother's soul in the seal, Naruto had been envious of her mother's red hair.

It was so long and pretty: after she'd met her mother in the seal's fail-safe she'd started growing her hair longer (in honor of her mother). While she looked quite a bit like Kushina, there were obvious traits taken from her father, especially, her golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Beside her Sasuke groaned. His arm was in the same shape as her own; cut off from around the biceps down. They'd tried not to move much, even while they talked, but with every minute that ticked by their hopes of help arriving became dimmer.

"They're too far away, aren't they Naru?" he asked, and she chuckled bitterly even if it jolted her body and made it ache even more.

"Yeah."

 _'You make me sick sometimes, brat. It's not over yet...' s_ he heard Kurama, the half she still had, say. Her eyes widen in surprise; she hadn't thought he was still awake or listening. Foolish to believe that, she realized. _'Grab onto the Uchiha, Naruto. Afterwhich, focus the rest of your chakra and let me and the others do the rest. You and the Uchiha will be fine, but don't make a habit of dying.'_

Kurama's words were final, there was no room for arguing. And if she were honest, Naruto didn't have the patience or ability to argue in her current state. She told Sasuke she would continue to fight him, and she would, but there was a difference between arguing with her Bijū and best friend. They were both equally as stubborn, though. Instead, Naruto rocked from side too side _—_ gasping at the pain that shot through her.

Sasuke turned his head towards the dead last, and his eyes widened. "W-what the hell are you doing?!"

"Wh-what does it look l-like?" she gasped out. Rolling onto her side. Her remaining arm was now in a position to reach out, and grab onto the bastard she called the closest to her heart. She smiled painfully, choking up blood with a heavy cough. "I'm saving us."

Sasuke was startled when she crawled closer to him; shifting her body to lie curled into his bloody side. She was careful of his bloody stump, and though he still grimaced in pain, it couldn't be a fraction of what Naruto felt moving as she had. She moved her blood stained crown up to look at him with a forced, bright smile and shinning eyes. If he could just move a little, lower his head just right, he'd be able to press his lips to hers. He didn't, but a secret part of him wouldn't have minded trying.

"Kurama says he can save us. We need to focus the rest of our chakra, all of it, and he'll do the rest."

"Are you sure? We don't have much chakra left, and I'll barely be able to activate my eyes."

Naruto nodded and said, "I'm sure."

Sasuke looked up at the sky and sighed. "What do we have to lose."

Together they focused their chakra, and shrouds of fiery chakra ignited around them. Almost merging together in blinding fiery-orange and purple. Lightning cracked around them, and power from all nine Bijū came together to save them. In a loud thundering crack they were gone. The only trace they'd been there was their blood on the ground, and soon that would no longer be there. The moment they left the world began to tare itself apart and disintegrate.

Like it never existed.

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It was the harsh light of the sun that greeted Naruto the next time she opened her eyes. It stung as she lie there blinking up at the clear sunrise. The sky took on shades of yellow, orange, and dark red _—_ like the hair of the Uzumaki, and it lit up the area around her in a brilliant fiery glow.

Wherever she was, she was uncomfortably situated on sharp upturned ground with her hand intertwined in Sasuke's. He was lying beside her still unconscious. Other than the sunlight half blinding her, the first thing Naruto noticed was the lack of pain. Oh, she ached and felt like her body was under ten times the gravity it should be, but the pain of her injuries was no longer at the forefront. What bruises and cuts remained were hardly a threat, and were rapidly healing themselves. Sasuke looked a little more banged up, since he didn't have her advanced healing.

While she noticed this, she realized with wide eyes and a start that she had both arms again. Flexing it in front of her she could see nothing to say it wasn't the original arm. To make sure it wasn't some illusion meant to confuse her, Naru pinched herself so hard she drew blood.

"Ow!" she yelped on reflex. She could only assume this was the work of Kurama. There were really too many missing variables to make an educated guess. Looking beside her she was relieved to find Sasuke's arm was also back.

Sitting up even as her body protested the movement, Naruto looked around at the area and gasped. This was not the Valley of the End, but she recognized this place. Even if she hadn't the fallen buildings with Uzumaki spirals would've given it away. She was in Uzushiogakure; a place which had been in ruins for over thirty years. She'd visited the ruined chain of small islands, once connected by bridges (some man-made and some there naturally), when she'd traveled with Jiraiya.

Getting in had only cost her some blood to bring down the barrier, which was erected in a chain reaction to the last Uzumaki's death inside the village. All enemies within were killed because of the massive seal, and it saved most things within the village from being pillaged. Some things, unfortunately, got out. While some things were lost, the majority remained.

She hadn't been able to stay long enough to really search for the hidden knowledge of the village, because Jiraiya had wanted to move on sooner rather than later. They'd left after a day and a half with only a book or two on fūinjutsu, most of which, was common knowledge. The ruins of the once vibrant village was as she remembered _—_ in disrepair, with only a few buildings and clan districts still standing.

Although most of the village was made up of the Uzumaki clan, there were a few civilians not of the Uzumaki blood, and a few small ninja clans apart of Uzushio before it was destroyed. It was only during the clan wars that the islands were made up of solely Uzumaki clan members.

She noticed the river flowing through the village amidst the devastation; the water was so crystal-clear you could see the bottom of the river (it wasn't really wide enough to be a lake, and possibly too deep to be considered a creak). In certain places of the river she could stand in the water and her five foot five frame would only be covered up to her waist. It reminded her of tide pools (which weren't common in the Land of Fire).

A tear threatened to fall as she felt the spirit of her mother's homeland and ancestors.

"Dead last..." A tired voice startled her from her thoughts, and she turned to look into onyx eyes. For a few seconds they just looked at one another and then his eyes visibly widened. Sasuke was rarely so startled, but seeing his best friend in relatively good health while a relief was also not what he expected.

Being in a random place he'd never seen before, but was definitely not their battle ground, didn't help. And when their eyes met it wasn't piercing sky blue that he saw. They were white, pupiless as far as the naked eye could see, and had a light blue cast to them. They were breath taking, but not what he was used to.

"You're eyes," he muttered, and Naruto's eyes widened.

"What? Is something wrong with them?" She lifted a hand to her eyes, but noticed nothing strange. Getting shakily to her feet, Naruto walked over to the river and knelled down. Peering down at her reflection she gasped loudly.

"It wasn't a dream." she realized. While she slept, she'd dreamed of endless white and a familiar old man – the Rikudō Sennin.

He floated in mid air. His staff laid across his lap, and a look of sympathy and pride was in his wise, ringed eyes. Beside him stood a similar looking man. His eyes, though, where the same as Kaguya: the white eyes of the Hyūga clan (very similar to Hinata or Neji's eyes). He had no eyebrows, oddly, and long white hair and pale skin.

"Hello again, children," Hagoromo said.

"Are we dead?" Sasuke deadpanned, as if he were expecting this outcome. Naruto looked over at him before narrowing her blue eyes and clinching her fist.

"We're not dead!" she snapped, and slapped him over the head.

He blinked and looked at her quizzically. He'd seen her upset before, but he hadn't expected that sort of adverse reaction to the possibility of their death. He'd known they couldn't survive their injuries – the fact they'd survived for a few hours was a miracle. Deep down Naruto knew that, too.

"The young Uzumaki is correct," the pale skinned male said from the Rikudō Sennin's side. "You're not dead, not yet. Unless your bodies give out between the transition of here and there, you'll both survive."

Naruto tilted her head like a curious puppy. "Who are you?"

Hamura chuckled. He could see his brother's children, his nephews, in these two. He'd seen them in the transmigrations before them as well. Especially, in Madara and Hashirama. These two had also taken after Madara and Hashirama – in fact the boy, Indra's transmigration, actually shared many similarities with Madara and his brother Izuna (physically at least).

There had been an unresolved tension between Hashirama and Madara, because of the era they were raised. That had translated into a sexual tension even he and Hagoromo could spot between the Uchiha and Uzumaki. A powerful combination should their relationship advance into something beyond friends. Even more so once he'd passed his gift onto the girl, who was his distant descendant through her paternal great-grandmother.

"I'm the sage's younger twin brother, Ōtsutsuk Hamura. I am the one who the Hyūga clan descended from. Their bloodline originating with me and my mother."

"Oh," Naruto said. Scratching the back of her head she chuckled. "I guess I can see the resemblance. Nice to meet ya old man, dattebayo."

Sasuke sighed almost fondly at her lack of tact, and Hagoromo chuckled while Hamura was unsure whether to be amused or slightly offended. She spoke the truth, though: he was rather old.

"Where the hell are we, old man?" Naruto asked. "One minute we're dying, Kurama's offering to save us with some technique, and the next we're here."

"Hn. I agree with her question. If we're not dead, why are we here?"

"You're here so we may explain a few things, and make the transition less painful for you both," Hagoromo replied. "You see, the jutsu Kurama used was a kinjutsu Hamura and I created. It was a space-time ninjutsu designed to reverse time. At first we would use it as children to escape punishment when in trouble with our mother or other caretakers. Then we completed it to become apart of our fighting style."

"It sounds a bit like Izanagi," Sasuke said.

"It's similar to the Izanagi," Hamura replied. "In fact, it could be described as a mass Izanagi. However, there are no illusions involved, and it works in years instead of escaping the last few minutes of reality."

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other with a look of understanding.

"You don't mean to say that this technique will..."

"Take you back in time?" Hagoromo nodded. "That's exactly what it's meant to do. When I was in my youth, I made an even more powerful version of the technique; but instead of it reversing time a few hours it could now go back days. The issue was, even I didn't have the power to use it to go back more than a year after I'd split the Jūbi into the nine bijū. I had no use for it anyway. I was near my death bed, and I'd had a fulfilling life. My only regrets are my children's war against each other."

"Why did Kurama know it, and how did he use it? You said you weren't powerful enough to go back more than a year... so how and when did Kurama send us?" Naruto asked.

"I foresaw it would be important should the worst happen to the Children of Prophecy. You're not supposed to die today, but without your teammate to come and save you, you would have died of the injuries you sustained. It was a show of your will power, and desire to live that you survived your final attacks against each other."

Hagoromo smiled before continuing.

"I gave the jutsu to each of the bijū, and taught them what to do. Each bijū had the ability to use it, though, alone they can only go back a few months or years depending on power. Alone I doubt Kurama could send you both back for more than a year. If Naruto were alone, maybe two or three years. What Kurama did was contact the other bijū, and ask them for their power to send you both back. Along with the chakra you both added and the time-space properties of Sasuke's dōjutsu, Kurama was able to send you further."

"We observed this and decided to help. Healing your worse wounds and propelling you even further back. Without our last push you'd have landed around the time of your Academy days, maybe twelve years at most. With our aid you were able to be sent even further back." Hamura finished the explanation.

"Unfortunately, this comes at a price. The backlash of so much chakra in one place, and going back in time so far, tore the known future apart. You could say it's natures way of keeping the balance. You exchange one future, one timeline, for another. This prevents the chance a Paradox may occur. An equivalent exchange, so to say."

Naruto's eyes widened and teared up at the thought of everyone left behind. Tsunade-baachan, Hinata, Kakashi, Sakura (although, last time she'd seen Sakura she'd been injured during the fight with Kaguya. She wasn't sure the Sakura had pulled through).

There were so many others she couldn't name off the top of her head. Some she didn't even know personally, but she still felt guilty for basically destroying the world. Sasuke, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to think or say. He was a bit upset himself. His thoughts going to the members of his other Team (Taka), Kakashi, and even Sakura.

"Don't feel to bad about the fate of that timeline, Naruto," Hamura began. "It may be gone, but you have the chance to create a better future. One where there is less death. Where things can go as they should. Although, I should warn you that this jutsu is unpredictable. Timelines are never one hundred percent certain, some things may not be the same."

"Thanks," Naruto muttered. "For giving us this chance."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, but otherwise remained silent. He wasn't sure what to say, his mind was racing with the possibilities, and the opportunities presented to them with this. There was so much they could change, but being _able_ to change it was another thing entirely. It all depended on where they landed, and _when_ they landed. Either way, they couldn't just stroll into Konoha. Even in a time of peace there was a process to people who moved into the village.

"Before you wake there is one more thing I wish to discuss with you, Naruto." Hamura stepped forward. "My descendants created the Hyūga clan. You already know this, But what I wish to ask is what you know about your paternal family?"

Truth was, Naruto knew nothing about her mother or father's families beyond a few details...

Naruto shook her head as the memories flooded her mind. Hamura had gone on to explain a bit about her family tree. Her father was the son of Namikaze Ryuu, an orphan son of a wondering ninja, Namikaze Kyo, and Hyūga Hibari of the main family. Hibari was disowned after it was found out she was pregnant, and from a wondering ninja she'd met on a mission at that.

When she was eight months pregnant she went into early labor, and gave birth to Namikaze Ryuu, who was born with bright blonde hair and blue eyes; certainly, not the eyes of a Hyūga. The elders and former main branch Hyūga Hibari's parents thought the boy was without the Byakugan because of his mixed blood.

Hibari died soon after giving birth through complications, however, Hibari's sister always thought it was the Hyūga elders and her father punishing her older sister with death for her disgrace to the clan. Of course there was never any evidence of this.

Her son, Ryuu, was given to the orphanage. Without the white eyes of the Hyūga the clan wanted nothing to do with a bastard. This was their mistake, since they'd not once thought that the bloodline could show up in one of Ryuu's descendants. Maybe it wouldn't have. Ryuu's son didn't have the bloodline, nor did his granddaughter, but the blood and potential was still there. With that logic, they might have all had the Byakugan, but no one chose to show them how to awaken it. Unlike the Sharingan it didn't just show up under great stress.

nonetheless, Namikaze Ryuu grew up, became a ninja, and married one of the few remaining Senju in name and blood. A civilian woman named Senju Bara. They had one child, Namikaze Minato. Unfortunately, fate had a cruel sense of humor and both Ryuu and Bara died during the second war, leaving two year old Minato an orphan. Minato would later meet and marry Uzumaki Kushina, and have a daughter _—_ Uzumaki Naruto.

Distant as it may be, Naruto had Hyūga blood, and now she even had the white eyes of a Hyūga along with the chakra Hamura had given her. Why her eyes actually changed, since she was pretty sure she could have used the Byakugan without the oddly blank eyes of a Hyūga, she didn't know. It might have to do with Hagoromo's chakra being present. Depending on what time period she and Sasuke were in it would make creating their new identities easier, since she looked less like her father.

She may not be a prodigy, but even she knew they couldn't walk around the Elemental Nations as Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

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 **AN: So, I don't often do many stories involving time!travel, at least not ones I've uploaded. I have a few mentioned on my site that will eventually get attention, but this one was something that with the recent end of the Naruto manga sort of took a life of its own. Obviously it's going to be rather different from canon, I try to diverge from canon as much as possible while still staying true to the story.**

 **I will be updating my other stories, as soon as I've finished rewriting. As some may already know from my profile update, I recently lost a lot of my files and was only able to recover a lot of older stuff and newer chapters with a lot of missing text. Stories like Meddling in Fate and the like have been slow going because of this. For more detail see my profile update.**


	2. The Story of Us

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 **The Roaring of The Sea.**

 **Chapter 2: The Story of Us.**

Maybe it was the shock, but they didn't move from where they stood or say anything after realizing it had all been real. They had come so close to death, they would have died if not for the Bijū. They were still processing the fact they'd made it, that Kurama had used some obscure kinjutsu to send them back an unknown number of years into the past. And Naruto was positive they were somehow on the main island of Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools).

"Any idea where we landed?" Sasuke asked, finally breaking the unbearable silence.

Nagisa turned to look at the Uchiha, noticing how he seemed to stare with a mix of emotions at his restored arm. He was near glaring at the appendage, as if it was the cause of all his heartache. A reminder of a dark past. Hopefully, she thought, he wouldn't attempt to hack it back off in some misguided attempt at redemption.

"I have an idea." she admitted. She walked away from the water, stepping over large fallen stone, and grimacing when she saw a skeletal hand poking up from the loosened soil and rubble. If it was from one of her fallen ancestors or the enemy, she didn't care to know. "I think we're in the Land of Whirlpools. This would have been Uzushiogakure, the village my mother and clan came from."

Sasuke frowned at the total devastation around them. He now stood beside his former teammate, and he too noticed the signs. Uzumaki spirals were scattered everywhere on the fallen buildings. Said spiral was only used by two villages in history; Uzushio and Konoha.

"Is the fox still with you?" he asked. It was Naruto's turn to frown, and her hand went to where her seal was. She hadn't heard from Kurama at all since she woke up. It could have been he was just sleeping. The sage had said the technique took a lot of chakra.

"I don't know. I'll have to check later, but he's not answering me, so it's possible he's asleep. The jutsu probably took it out of him."

Sasuke nodded. "We'll have to figure this out ourselves then."

"Well, we already know we can't be more than twenty or twenty-five years in the past. This isn't the scene of a fresh battle, there are bones not corpses," Naruto pointed out with a small grimace. "Uzushio has been gone at least a decade now."

"Hn, good point. We should explore the village. There might be hidden rooms or information that wasn't pillaged when the village fell," Sasuke said. "You should make some clones and send them out to gather information. Make sure to use a disguise, though."

Naruto frowned, running a hand through her thigh length golden hair which had fallen from their pigtails. It was a distinct shade of blonde only seen with the Yondaime Hokage. Even the Yamanaka had a different shade of blonde hair.

Her eyes would lead anyone to believe her to be a Hyūga, and despite her eyes making her look less like her father she still looked too much like Namikaze Minato to be overlooked. She could easily use a transformation, but she would need something more permanent and she didn't plan to hide her eyes forever. They'd have to work on their stories soon.

"Right." She crossed her fingers over the other and twenty clones popped into existence. "Transform into random appearances – civilians are best since we don't know what era we're in. Leave the island and find everything you can about when we are. Once you've gathered everything you can pop yourself. Five of you should see if you can sneak into the hidden villages for information, but don't give yourself away."

"Sure thing, boss!" one of the clones said.

Suddenly they were all transformed into different appearances. Shades of black, brown, and blonde hair. Eyes ranging from dark to pale. One thing they had in common was gender and a petite frame that screamed of a civilian life instead of the more firm, toned, and curvy build of a kunoichi she possesed.

"Good luck," she muttered to her clones as they took off out of the village.

After that was taken care of the two made their way through the village. It was hard to get by some fallen chunks of stone, but together they were able to either clear the area or get over and around it. Sasuke's Sharingan and Rinnegan came in handy for that, and her new Byakugan was also useful.

Although it took her over five minutes to remember what Hinata had told her about the Hyūga Byakugan. It was trial and error really, but finally the veins at her temples became more pronounced and her vision improved so dramatically she stumbled back and nearly landed in the river.

Sasuke was by her side in an instant, his arms around her waist to stop her from stumbling back into the cold water. Given the chilly breeze they both estimated it was nearing winter. There were rare white winters in Konoha, she only remembered a few from when she was a kid, but this far out they assumed Uzushio got more snow and colder weather.

"Thanks," Naruto said, a small blush coming and going over her whiskered cheeks. It was kind of sad – the last time they'd been this close had been during their final battle, and at the time he'd been trying to kill her. Before that it had been years, probably around the time of the mission to the Land of Waves.

"No problem," he muttered. "So what do you see?"

Standing up straight, Naruto looked around them before she caught a structure still mostly standing about thirty feet away. It was a clan compound with low walls and an archway into the compound. The walls were of stone and crumbling. One section of the wall was knocked down along with whatever structures were inside that section of the compound. What caught her attention was the prominent pale blue Uzumaki spirals on the stone walls, and the metal one in the center of the rusting gate. It was the best preserved area in the village she'd seen so far.

"I think I found the Uzumaki Compound."

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The Uzumaki Compound didn't give them much more information than the rest of the village. At least not at first. It was decaying and crumbling, but many of the buildings were still standing with minimal damage the farther into the compound they got.

Naruto was pretty sure that had to do with the seals she saw with her Byakugan that still gave off a faint glow from the chakra which created them. Sasuke also took notice of it with his single Rinnegan. At the end of the compound was the largest home still standing in the compound.

It was traditional in architecture, and could only be called a mansion given it's sheer size. It had seen the least damage out of all the buildings, and upon entering they realized this was indeed the home of the clan heads family, and it probably had been for generations.

The inside was in less than stellar condition. There was dust inches thick over everything, spider webs, and cobwebs. In the kitchen they noticed the last meal the family had was still at the table, rotted away with time. Naruto had to chock back a cry of surprise when a rat scurried out from the sink and over the stove. On the walls were pictures, mostly of the clan heads family and previous generations.

Her eyes watered a little realizing this was once her mother's house. That became more clear when they went down the hall to the bedrooms. The first door on the right had a sign hanging on the front which read;クシナ, Kushina.

"This was my mother's room," she muttered, and Sasuke stopped where he stood in front of the next door down on the left (a bathroom, it turned out). Looking back at her he watched the blonde twist the door knob and push the door open. Abandoning the door before him, he followed her inside.

Inside was the typical girls room, just covered with several layers of dust and webs. A desk was propped up against the only large window in the room. The window gave whoever was in front of it a great view of the rising or setting sun over the hills of Uzushio.

On the right side of the room away from the desk was a bed that had many fluffy pillows, which Naruto had to smile at. She herself enjoyed pillows and her apartment was at one point just a nest of fluffy pillows before she got an actual bed and other furniture.

The walls were aged and appeared mustard colored rather than the soft yellow they'd once been. The dresser and desk was a dark wood – probably mahogany. There were books in a bookshelf, most being children's books, but there were some scrolls and history books as well.

Small knickknacks were scattered about on shelves, and there were a few stuffed animals that had seen better days. There was also several pictures in picture frames. Walking over to the bed she sat down and lifted a picture frame off the desk. The frame was a simple black metal with red spirals on each of the four corners.

It was a picture of her mother's family, probably taken shortly before Kushina left Uzushio. Her mother stood in front of an older couple. Both had dark red hair, the mans was shaggy and ended at his shoulders. The woman's red hair was long, straight, and ended at her thighs. The man had violet eyes like her mother, but the woman's eyes were blue.

Her mother smiled happily at the camera, wearing a purple and yellow kimono top and undershirt, a black skirt on under it. Her long hair was only mid-back length in the picture. She couldn't be much older than seven or eight.

Beside her mother was another older girl around the age of eleven or twelve. She wore a sleeveless orange kimono with a dark purple sash around her waist and a mesh armor undershirt. Around her forehead was an Uzushio forehead protector. Her hair was shaggy like the mans, but fell to her waist. She was smirking happily at the camera and giving Kushina bunny ears. Strangely she had one violet eye and one blue eye.

"You're grandparents, mother, and aunt maybe?" Sasuke suggested, noticing the resemblance between the four Uzumaki in the picture and Naruto.

The older girl beside Kushina certainly had Naruto's taste in color. Both girls had the same eye and facial shape which was shared by Naruto as well. Turning the frame around she opened the back, and as she suspected there was kanji on the back of the photo; _Uzumaki Kenshin, Hotaru, Aiko, and Kushina. Sprin_ _g..._

"Yeah," Naruto said, before taking the photo and slipping it into her pants pocket (just in case they wouldn't be back). "Come on, we should continue looking around."

They found Uzumaki Aiko's room next, then the master bedroom, and plenty of guest rooms. One room didn't look like a guest room though. Instead it looked lived in, with pictures and covers strewn across the bed. With some sleuthing they found that the room belonged to her great-aunt, Uzumaki Benihime. A journal was their only clue of who the woman was.

It was kind of surprising how much the woman looked like Naruto and Kushina. From the pictures Naruto almost thought it was her mother, but since Uzushio had fallen around the time her mother was a genin that was impossible.

"We should discuss what we're going to do," Sasuke said.

They'd found a large room in the back of the house. It was probably her grandfather's study. Books and scrolls were stored along the walls, and there was a large desk nearly in the center of the room. A small couch and chair set on another end. The two of them chose to sit on said couch, Benihime's journal clutched in Naruto's hands.

"We can't continue wondering around as ourselves, especially off this island."

"And eventually we have to leave if we want to stop Black Zetsu and Madara. We can only assume both are around at the moment." Naruto sighed and rubbed the area between her eyes at the bridge of her nose. "First things first, we need new names."

Sasuke nodded. "I've thought about that. I can go by Indra, it won't be too hard to get used to."

Naruto snorted at the simplicity but nodded. "Uchiha Indra... that'll work. I won't go by Asura though, if you're thinking that, bastard."

"No, choose what you want. You're the one who has to live with it from here on out," he said with a scoff.

"I guess I have too."

She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Her parents had named her Naruto for a reason, it held deep meaning for them. When she had turned out to be a girl, instead of the boy they thought they were having, they'd kept their chosen name despite it being more of a boys name. She could use similar names. Naru, Narumi, Naruko... but they just didn't feel right. Not with another Naruto around in this timeline. So maybe a name with a similar meaning. Naruto could mean 'Maelstrom', so something ocean oriented.

"Nagisa," she finally said. "I'll be Uzumaki Nagisa." Nagisa, meaning 'beach; shore; _water's edge_ '.

"Nagisa," Sasuke... now Indra echoed, trying the new name out for himself. It suited her. "We should start calling each other by our chosen name, to get accustomed to answering to them."

Naru—Nagisa nodded. "I think your story should be pretty easily concocted. We can just say you're an Uchiha who was born outside the village... maybe through someone who left the village. Madara maybe..."

"Hn. Other then Madara there weren't many Uchiha to turn traitor. In the last twenty years I can only think of one. Her name was Uchiha Izana. She fled during the Second Shinobi War. Little is known why, but instead of considered a traitor the clan and village listed her as KIA, though a body was never found."

"Then how do they know she fled?"

"The clan detected traces of a Sharingan genjutsu over the returning clan member. It was in the records I looked through before I left Konoha, but that's as much as I know about the ordeal. I know she was the granddaughter of Uchiha Madara, what she looked like, when she was born, and that she's my father's cousin, but that's as far as my knowledge really goes," Indra told her. "I can say Uchiha Izana is my mother, and an unknown clansman was my father. She fled during the war because she was pregnant and sick of the fighting. She ran to a smaller country that didn't see a lot of the war until she had me, and we traveled until we stumbled into Uzu no Kuni. We took refuge here a year before the destruction, where you and I met. My mother was one of the few survivors of the war along with us. We can say she died of an illness some time later."

"That should work and be easy to remember. Assuming my mother's still alive, she wouldn't know if it's the truth or not, since she left when she was around eight." Nagisa frowned as she read through Benihime's journal even more.

It read like a life story. Starting from when she was nine years old until her death at thirty-one. A few entries caught her attention. The pages spoke of missions outside the village and meeting a man with enchanting eyes. White eyes. The man wasn't given a name at first, but as she continued to read the more she'd bet money he was a Hyūga. A few entries in her theory was confirmed.

 _March 23_ _rd_ _..._

 _I haven't been feeling well lately. Kenshin thinks I need a doctor, but I think he worries too much. Hotaru, my dear sister-in-law, agrees with him, but I've always had a strong immune system. All Uzumaki do, so I've been avoiding it. Until today. I went to a healer in our clan, which is a great accomplishment since chakra control is such a hard field for us. I told her my plight and she was all too happy to check me over for anything, to my surprise and I think even hers, the results were conclusive. I'm pregnant, expecting... but that makes little sense to anyone who knows me._

 _I don't sleep around, I'm not married like many others my age, and I'm without a boyfriend to their knowledge. My mind was racing for another reason. I was going to be a mother! But at the same time I knew who the father was and his clan... they'd not be very supportive, in fact I'd be surprised if they were_ _happy at all_ _. The Hyūga were known for coveting their Dōjutsu like no other, even the Uchiha was more lax then them._

 _I'll have to tell Jun, ask him what he thinks. If we have to we'll continue to hide it, we'll hope the baby takes more after me and doesn't have the Byakugan. Jun told me this isn't the first time a situation like_ _this_ _has happened, but it's very rare. Everything will work out though. It has to._

"I can use this. Here Sas– Indra, read this," Nagisa said, handing the journal over. Indra read quickly.

"I see. You could claim to be the child of your aunt, but what of the real child they had?" he asked.

"Turn a few pages. It talks about Benihime telling Jun and them making plans to keep it from his clan. Jun didn't trust them as he was a Branch member and not of the main family. He didn't want his child branded like him." Nagisa sighed sadly after that. "Unfortunately, they never had to worry about that. A few weeks after she found out she was pregnant she had a miscarriage. Jun died in the war sometime later."

"And if your mom's still alive?" he asked, closing the journal.

Nagisa shrugged. "We hope her memory isn't that good. She was young when she left, and Benihime had moved out of the house by the time my mom was six. When Benihime lost her child my mom would have been only five years old. She was only in Uzushio for two more years, give or take. She probably wouldn't have noticed. We can say I was sheltered most my life because of my Byakugan."

"And your hair?"

"I can use a special seal ero-sennin taught me. It latches onto the recessive genes inside you and makes them the dominate ones. In other words, the seal will bring out my mother's red hair while making my father's coloring recessive," she replied.

Indra nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"We should rest. Maybe find some clothes and food."

Nagisa nodded and he left the room. She found her way back to her aunt's room where she checked the closet, hoping to find some clothes in her size. A lot of it was moth eaten, but there were a few kimonos that probably had preservation seals sewn into them that looked fine. Grabbing a dark orange and red kimono she left the room behind.

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 **Edited: 12/2/17.**

 **AN: I hope you all enjoyed this chapters, it's a bit of a slow build right now. I wanted to address their new names. Obviously they couldn't continue using their names, since there's already a Sasuke and Naruto around. So from now on I will refer to them as Uchiha Indra and Uzumaki Nagisa. More information can be found on my website.**


	3. Grief

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 **The Roaring of The Sea.**

 **Chapter 3: Grief.**

Nagisa entered her mindscape their first night in Uzushio. She and Indra cleared out the room with the largest bed, big enough for four or five people in fact. As ninja they'd shared a tent before.

When Sakura was a fresh genin she'd insisted she have her own tent. Nagisa hadn't had the money for her own tent then, only enough for a sleeping bag. Since Kakashi didn't trust Sakura to share with Sasuke (and Sasuke would have refused vehemently), he allowed her to share with Sasuke. Pakkun was always close by though, she wasn't sure if Kakashi realized she knew. The point was, Nagisa and Indra were more than willing to share a room. It was more convenient in this unknown timeline.

Her mindscape was the same sewer-like area, but the gates once closed and sealed, keeping Kurama at bay, were opened. Her pale eyes swept over the area, searching for her friend and partner. There was no immediate sign of Kurama, and his mountain sized orange-red body was very distinctive.

"Kurama!" she called out in worry. Walking past the open gates into the darker cage. She turned in a circle looking everywhere, but still nothing.

Her eyes widened in horror. The Shiki Fūjin remained but Kurama was no where in sight. Finally she noticed an area in the back, shrouded in darkness. It was like a cave, and hoping it would lead her to Kurama she entered the darkness.

Her Byakugan activating instinctively. She was startled at first, not used to her dōjutsu just yet. If she'd always had it she didn't know, but she'd just recently activated it so she was still becoming accustomed too the near 360 degree vision, added to the ability to see through solid objects and chakra.

The light came back once she was out of the cave-like tunnel. She was in another place, probably another mindscape since she knew this wasn't part of hers. The first thing she saw was a sleeping fox bound on his back to a floating rock, though maybe it was supposed to be a moon.

"Kurama!" she yelled.

She ran over to the bound bijū, but he didn't respond not even when she leaped up onto the floating sphere he was chained to. She stuck to it on instinct so she wouldn't fall off if he was startled when she woke him up. She knew how cranky Kurama could get when disturbed.

"Kurama, are you alright? Talk to me you fluffy fox!" she demanded. Kurama's nose and whiskers twitched and she climbed onto his head. Pulling up on one of his fluffy ears (odd since he was just a mass of solid chakra) she yelled, "Kurama, the Tsuki no Usagi called, she wants her ears back!"

Crimson eyes snapped open and Kurama jerked around, but he didn't get far with the chains pinning him down. Nagisa held onto his ears and laughed. Calming down, Kurama huffed.

"Brat, what have I told you about comparing me to rabbits?" he demanded.

She rubbed the back of her head, smiling sheepishly. "Not to."

"Or..." he pressed on.

"Or you'd show me images that would have me in therapy for life."

"Exactly," Kurama growled. Glancing around he snarled at the realization of where he was. "Oh, not this again!"

"What? Do you know where we are?" Nagisa asked.

"This is my old prison, but I can't tell for sure right now if it's your mother or Mito. Both enjoyed keeping me bound with their chains, though Kushina seemed to have a better grasp of it. Probably her special chakra."

"Why can't you tell?"

"Mito and Kushina had similar chakra being of the same clan and more closely related. Both were daughters of the clan heads of their era. I'm also exhausted, despite merging with my past self. Right now my chakra is settling and allowing for a new balance. As I had more life experience, and despite having barely one tail of chakra left when merging with my past self, I became the dominant persona instead of my past self. Give me some time to rest and I'll be sure whose seal this is."

"I see," Nagisa began. "I don't know if it helps but Sasu-I mean Indra and I landed in Uzushio, or what's left of it at least." Wanting to be more comfortable she sat down cross-legged on his head, running a hand through the fur on top of his head.

Kurama raised one eye quizzically. "Indra?" he asked.

"Hmm, we figured we couldn't use our own names. Chances are we have counterparts already with those names in this timeline."

"True enough. So should I call you Asura now, Naruto?" he half joked and Nagisa snorted.

"No. I chose the name Nagisa for myself," she replied.

"Uzumaki Nagisa – it suits you. Not to mention it'll be less awkward for you two in the future," Kurama said knowingly.

"Thanks." Nagisa said hesitantly, catching the foxes knowing tone but unaware of what he meant. There was a period of peace, but the peaceful silence didn't last.

"What you said before, about being in the ruins of Uzushio," Kurama started. "How fresh is it?"

"I'd say its been destroyed for years now. Maybe a decade at most, five years at the minimum."

"That does narrow it down," Kurama said. "Mito died a few years before Uzu's fall. If she'd been alive the attack may not have decimated as much of the clan as it did. She would have done everything to get backup to them in time."

Nagisa knew Kurama wasn't implying that Konoha hadn't gone to their allied villages aid. She knew the alliance of Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure had shocked Konoha as much as it had Uzushio. There had been no time for Konoha to get to Uzushio, between the time it took for a missive to be sent to Konoha from Uzu, and the battles Konoha was caught up in at the time.

By the time news arrived and enough ninja were free to be sent to Uzushio they'd arrived too late. The lands were scarred by battle and blood soaked into the soil. Survivors had fled, and the village was sealed up tight from anyone but an Uzumaki. It was the destruction of Uzushiogakure that set the foundations for the Third war. Kushina may or may not have returned to Uzushio at one point. Jiraiya never mentioned it and she never asked.

She came out of her thoughts at Kurama's next words. "There's no doubt now, this is definitely Kushina's seal. You could be anywhere just before or during the Third Shinobi War."

"I was afraid of that," she said with a sigh. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to know this timelines counterpart of her mother was alive (though maybe she should get used to the idea of calling Kushina her cousin now), it simply complicated things with her and Kurama.

Sadly they both knew she couldn't free him from his chains yet. Kushina might notice him missing if he traveled from her seal to Nagisa's own should she check up on the bijū. Kurama admitted Kushina never visited him but once every few months. From his past selves memories and his own recollection she'd be due in a few more days.

After that they'd slowly undo the chains, something Nagisa could do easily since the chains were so similar to her own. By the end of the month Kurama was free and peaceful in her seal once again. They'd just have to re-chain Kurama to his former prison when Kushina was due to check on him.

Kurama wasn't happy about that, but at least he only had to deal with it for a few hours every few months. With the seals connected it also didn't matter whose seal he was in, his power could be drawn on by both Nagisa and Kushina, so there was no fear of Kushina trying to use his chakra and not finding it.

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Two weeks after they arrived in the past they found the hidden Uzumaki Vault while exploring the compound. While in an old shrine on the back end of the property, Nagisa and Indra noticed a hidden seal on the floor.

When they channeled chakra it began to glow, and after inspecting it Nagisa was able to open the sealed door. The seal was so hard to notice because it was designed to trap anyone looking in a genjutsu, making it seem like the floor was clear. They'd just happened to look at it with their dōjutsu that day.

A staircase down into a large circular room was revealed seconds after the seal accepted her as an Uzumaki. The floor was probably concrete or something similar, and it was marked with the largest Uzumaki spiral she'd ever seen. She got the impression this room doubled as a sealing room. Along the walls were rows of shelves filled with books and scrolls.

Alongside some of the bookshelves were spaces with nearly unnoticeable doors. Seals like the one above branded each door, and Nagisa figured inside were the other treasures of the clan. Armories, treasuries, and the like.

"They must have stored everything of value here. The clan library of sorts," Nagisa said, spinning slowly in a circle to get a good look at everything. She couldn't believe she and Jiraiya had missed this before. But then again they only stayed a day or so before leaving, and it had taken her and Indra two weeks to notice this place.

"We'll looked around, we may find some useful information," Indra said. He knew Nagisa wanted to continue her fūinjutsu studies, and being the clan's specialty he wouldn't be surprised if half of the books and scrolls was on said subject.

Deciding to explore the other three rooms before furthering their search in the main chamber, they chose to enter the room on the far left first. It was full of trunks and family heirlooms; crowns similar to the one Uzumaki Mito wore in her youth. Jewels, ryo, and gold. It looked like she was right about this being the Uzumaki treasury. It saved them from being completely broke. There had to be a fortune here in just one trunk.

She knew Kushina was the heiress again after the fall of Uzushio and death of her older sister, but even she didn't know if Kushina ever knew about the chambers under the Uzumaki shrine.

In the future her parents had left her an inheritance, but it wasn't more than a bank account with a good bit of wealth, and the home they'd shared before their death. Everyone else probably assumed Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo had pillaged the village of all it's riches before the barrier went up.

Seeing as this was the clan heads treasury going back generations, that meant the other clan members must have kept their riches somewhere else. Probably a bank. It didn't really matter to Nagisa, having grown up with the bare necessities money wasn't something she really coveted.

"Once we leave Uzu we'll at least be able to settle without being broke. We'll send some clones to the mainland to pick up some things later," Indra told her as they entered the second door.

Inside was very similar to the first room, only the wall on every side of them was like a tapestry of the Uzumaki main and branch families. Even those who married in or out of the family were listed. The room was nearly as large as the main chamber.

"I didn't think they could record the clan so... extensively," Nagisa said in awe, running her finger down the tapestry until she finally found the last clan head and his family, her family, including her aunt and now pseudo mother – Uzumaki Benihime. Below her name was her birth and death date. Across from her name was her lovers and a line that led down to a blank space where their child should have been.

"It looks like it might be self updating," Indra noticed. There were some names and dates which were recorded after the fall of Uzushio. The only way that could be was if someone was left in Uzushio to do so, or if it updated by itself when there was a new birth in the clan.

"It's probably the work of some sort of fūinjutsu." Activating her Byakugan she realized seals coated every inch of the room. Allowing her eyes to return to their normal white-blue color, Nagisa unwittingly let chakra seep into the tapestry at Benihime's name, activating the seal around it. The air drew humid and then cooled off just as quickly.

"You're correct, child. This room was created when the clan first formed centuries ago," a warm feminine voice said, breaking through the silence.

Nagisa and Indra twirled around on the spot and their jaws nearly dropped in shock. In the middle of the floor stood a beautiful woman who resembled Nagisa greatly (especially in the chest area). She had long flowing red hair that curled at the ends which brushed her knees, violet eyes, and a pale complexion. What was more perplexing was the fact she was completely see through, like a ghost.

Nagisa's eyes widened and she practically jumped into Indra's arms. She ended up with her arms thrown around his neck and being held bridal style by the exasperated raven haired man.

"Gh-gh-ghost!" Nagisa wailed, and Indra closed his eyes and sighed. He'd almost forgotten she had a crippling fear of the dead – which led to him questioning how she'd ever fought the Edo Tensei during the war.

"She's not a ghost, idiot," Indra muttered, but didn't drop or push her off. He actually didn't mind being so close to her.

Benihime smiled, amused.

"You're companion is correct, Nagisa," she said. "I am a chakra impression, left in the seal hidden on the tapestry. You activated the seal and I was able to manifest. I've been capable of watching you though since your arrival. Think of me as a guardian of Uzushio, now that my seal has been activated though I can't leave this room, and the chakra keeping me here will eventually run out."

Nagisa understood what she was saying. It was very similar to how she'd met her mother and father inside the seal. They too had left when their chakra ran out. Hopping out of Indra's arms she stared at the woman who looked so similar to her and her mother. Her red hair and eyes were exactly the same shade as her mother.

Now that her hair was red it matched her own as well, but her eyes differed greatly. She thought she might have imagined it, but Benihime had a almost longing look in her eyes when she gazed at her. It only took her a moment to realize why. She was the living embodiment of the child Benihime had lost in life.

"Why are you here though, besides watching over Uzushio. What's your purpose now that you have a somewhat physical form?" Indra asked.

"I can exist for a few days, maybe weeks in this room. I figured you could use my advice, I do know the ins and outs of Uzu no Kuni. I also wish to help you train, I'm sure Nagisa is interested in our clan history. I get the impression she doesn't know much since she was born after it's destruction."

"You know a lot for a chakra impression," he noted and she smirked.

"I personally created this seal to leave apart of myself behind. Maybe chakra impression isn't a great way of putting it. I am basically a small piece of Uzumaki Benihime's soul and a larger portion of her dense chakra left in a seal to protect what is left of Uzushio," Benihime explained. "As for how I know who you truly are... I told you I've been watching and listening."

"So you're sort of like the bijū," Nagisa said and she nodded.

"Exactly, except unlike them I'll eventually run out of chakra." Benihime sighed and than took a deep breath, which looked strange since she didn't need air. "I also wish to help you with your stories... more to the point I wish to officially adopt Nagisa as my own. I approve of your story, it's believable, but should you ever bring another Uzumaki here and they can't find your name on the family tapestry they'll begin to question it."

"What would you do, I mean you're not really alive..." Nagisa trailed off unsure if she would offend her great-aunt or not.

"True, I am no longer alive, but I can manipulate the tapestry. Please, place your hand on the area under the branch leading from my and Jun's name. Focus some chakra and I'll do the rest," Benihime said, and without much hesitation she did as Benihime asked.

Channeling chakra into that certain point she watched as it glowed with her chakra and then turned golden before a name appeared: **Uzumaki Nagisa. B. October 10** **th** **, 1206 AC.**

"Oh wow, it really worked," Nagisa breathed.

The next two weeks were spent in the chambers if they weren't sleeping, eating, or taking bathroom breaks. Both learned quite a bit from Benihime before her time ran out and she faded away.

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In the time they had been in Uzushiogakure they'd begun cleaning up the village, it wasn't easy with only two of them but with the aid of Kage Bunshin the labor went a lot quicker.

By the end of the month the Uzumaki Compound didn't look as good as before the village fell, but it and the city outside the compound looked less like a war zone.

Most, if not all of the dead had been found and reburied, but it wasn't all that easy because of the fact every corpse they came across was just bones, weapons, and scraps of clothes. There were more foreign ninja than Uzushio-nin found, which Nagisa couldn't help but smirk about in smug pride (a rare emotion for her).

Nagisa had found an old store house still in part standing with Indra days after they landed. Inside were bags of preserved rice, wheat, milk, and eggs. A few of the seals had been damaged so some of it wasn't edible anymore, but the majority was fine. She also found an abundance of seeds for all types of plants – flowers, vegetables, fruits, even herbs for both cooking, medicine and poisons. She couldn't help but think Tsunade and Sakura would have loved the latter collection of seeds.

They found the ruins of the Uzukage Tower and some records laying about the rubble, but a lot of it was degraded with the turn of the seasons over a long period of time. The same could be said for a half standing library, which while mostly shinobi in nature did have some civilian books and scrolls.

A lot of the once kept books and scrolls looked to have been lost with the village, before the last Uzumaki fell activating their last defense. The seal was unknown to anyone not of Uzumaki blood, when activated it sealed Uzushio in a barrier while killing those in the village without Uzumaki blood. In the end Uzushio may have been destroyed, but they got the last laugh.

There were still some good finds in the building, but since the seals protecting said scrolls from the effects of weather were damaged some were beyond reading. It was a disheartening loss to Nagisa who knew this was the last vestige of her ancestors.

She distracted herself by helping clean the village up, learning to answer to her new name while addressing her best friend by his chosen one.

After finding the store house she'd started a large garden. One in the back, one to the side, and one in the front yard. The one in the back was mostly medicinal and poisonous. While the ones to either side of the house were fruits and vegetables. In the front she had planted some regular flowers: Azaleas, violets, lilies, roses, and a flower called viscaria which grew in abundance over the islands. It kept her hands busy and her mind off their situation.

It was a few days after Benihime's chakra impression faded Nagisa finally came out of her shock and denial, breaking down in the living room when she was going through her pouch, which survived the trip to the past.

She'd taken it off sometime after their first night in the compound, and didn't see a reason to wear it everywhere they went since they were the only ones on the island. She'd been cleaning when she came across it again. She could have hit herself for forgetting about it.

She'd found not only Indra's old forehead protector but a picture of team seven, both as genin and when Sai joined with Yamato. She finally realized that she'd never see her precious people again. At least not as she knew them.

She didn't even know if Sakura was alive when they left. Hagoromo and Hamura hadn't told them, but even if she was when that timeline was erased or imploded in on itself – whatever you wanted to call it – they'd been destroyed as well.

"I miss them too."

Nagisa stood up startled, turning around to find her best friend leaning against the archway into the living room. She sighed, wiped her tears, and sat back down. The pictures of Team Seven in her hands. "With you, I never really know what you're thinking until we fight..."

Indra snorted, walking over to sit beside the former blonde. He'd gotten used to seeing her white eyes and brilliant red hair. Unless one had seen a picture of her as a blonde with regular blue eyes they'd never think she'd been any different.

Just seeing their team photo, how she used to be decked out in ostentatious kill-me orange with a little blue thrown in. Her hair was far shorter back then, the pigtails not even reaching her shoulders.

The golden blonde was eye catching just as the red was now, but at first it was like looking at an entirely new person, and he missed the blonde he'd known. It took him time to realize the color of her eyes and hair may have changed, but she was still the girl he knew. Just as cheerful, outgoing, loud mouthed, and unpredictable. Qualities he'd grown to love about her, though he'd never quite admitted it.

The fact the counterparts of the people they knew wouldn't be the same in this timeline had caught up to him. He'd expected Nagisa to break down sooner, but between reburying bodies they found, cleaning up the compound and some of the village itself, and Benihime's training there hadn't been a lot of time to reflect.

He'd mourned silently, without as many tears and in private. He'd never been one to be overly emotional. Sometimes he wondered if that was why he had such a friend like Nagisa, to help him and be his moral compose. He realized a long time ago that he'd be rather lost without her presence. Even in Sound it had helped him think straight knowing he hadn't killed her during their fight at the Valley of the End.

"You know me better than anyone, just as I know you," he began. "You're blaming yourself for what happened to our timeline. You miss our friends..."

Nagisa smiled faintly, looking over at him her long pigtails following the motion. "You said our friends."

"Hush," Indra said before continuing. "It's not your fault. If you want to place the blame on someone place it with Kaguya, Black Zetsu, Madara, Obito... hell, even I am at fault."

"Indra, none of this was your fault!" Nagisa exclaimed, surprised,

"It is. I should have listened to you sooner. I could have ended the Mugen Tsukuyomi and chosen not to fight you. But I didn't, I chose to oppose the idea of peace after Kaguya was gone and it caused Sakura not to have the medical attention she needed, which meant she wasn't there to heal us. It was my fault."

"You're so stupid," Nagisa said, placing a hand near his thigh. "I don't blame you. I'm sure Sakura and Kakashi don't either. Even old man Sennin and Hamura didn't seem to blame you. You know, if I can't blame myself than you can't blame yourself either. Black Zetsu and Kaguya are to blame, let's agree to that."

"And Madara and Obito?" Indra finally asked, briefly noticing his hand had covered Nagisa's.

She shrugged. "Were at fault as well, but I can sympathize with them. Black Zetsu manipulated Madara, maybe even before the death of his brother Izuna. We both know how the loss of a love one can feel, it's the most vulnerable time. And of course Obito was practically brainwashed and forced to witness the death of the girl he was in love with at the hands of his best friend. That would screw anyone up short of a sociopath. It doesn't excuse them, but the blame isn't completely theirs to hold."

Indra nodded, a small smirk twisting the corner of his mouth. Trust Nagisa to want to find the good in even her enemies. "Come on, maybe we can find a frame for those."

Nagisa smiled and nodded. If she wanted to keep the pictures out in plain view than she'd have to place a special seal on them. Uzumaki were generally weak against genjutsu, but there were some loopholes created by the Uzumaki because of this weakness.

Fūinjutsu was only limited by a persons skill and imagination, Benihime had taught her that. She'd found a few seals geared towards illusions in the last month of searching through the Uzumaki vault.

Having studied it, creating a genjutsu-fūinjutsu hybrid wouldn't be so hard. In the end it would be placed on the back of the photo in invisible chakra ink, and when someone not keyed into the seal looked at the photo they'd see something different. They'd still see a team of ninja, but the appearances of each one would not mirror this worlds Team Seven.

Still holding onto his hand the two left the room.


	4. Art of War

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 **The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. -** **Sun Tzu.**

 **The Roaring of The Sea.**

 **Chapter 4: Art of War.**

The Third Shinobi World War; of all the places to land, why did it have to be in the height of one of the bloodiest, longest fought wars?

If Nagisa recalled her history correctly, the Third War was a mess. Between Uzushio's destruction and the White Fangs failed mission which led to him being ostracized by the village and his eventual suicide, Konoha had come close to loosing the war. It was really only thanks to Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash, that the war ended as soon as it did. She couldn't remember the exact date, but she knew it was nearly a year before her birth, give or take.

When her clones began popping themselves the date had been late February. Kakashi would be twelve going on thirteen, Obito was either already thirteen or almost thirteen, and while they knew it was just before the war ended that Obito had supposedly died, neither of them knew when the Kannabi Bridge mission took place. From what information her clones collected they'd been in the past since mid-January.

None of them had been able to get into the hidden villages, all of them were under heavy guard even for traveling civilians during this time of war. She hadn't expected they'd be able to after Kurama told her his suspicions of the timeline. Considering they had been gone for weeks now, Nagisa expected a little more information than she'd received from them, but there was enough that she was worried.

"This is going to be harder than we first thought." She ran a hand through her loose hair, which pooled around her. It was mostly straight with a few rebellious strands that wanted to curl up and out. She was thankful her hair was easily tamed (at least when it was long. Lord forbid she cut it short).

Her thin yukata conformed to her curves, and she had a steaming cup of tea in front of her. Indra sat across from her dressed similarly, but in dark blue instead of white. He had his hand around his tea cup, a sleepy look spread across his face. No surprise given it was only three in the morning.

One of her clones had the brilliant idea of dismissing itself in the middle of the night. Nagisa usually wouldn't have woken herself and Indra up, but the information she'd received was what they'd been waiting for. They could finally pin-point exactly when in the timeline they were and estimate how much longer the Third War would last. While she welcomed the chance at saving Obito, Rin, and her birth parents, she also knew it would have been much easier if they'd gone back to a timeline they knew more about.

"Hn, it could be worse. The Third War is almost over now, we could have been sent back even further," said Indra honestly. They could have ended up before Konoha's founding or during one of the other two wars. They'd actually been lucky to land where they had.

Nagisa sighed, clutching her tea cup. "Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have been easier that way. Maybe we could have saved Uzu or stopped the Third War all together."

Indra laughed dryly, a bitterness coated his words. "Doubtful. Humanity will always find a reason to fight, it's part of human nature. Love, hate, and war... they're all different ways to say the same thing."

She snorted, not at all surprised. "Figures you'd believe that." A small smile spread across her face.

He raised an eyebrow. "And you don't?" he asked.

Nagisa sighed (which she seemed to be doing a lot these days), knowing he made a good point. "I wasn't saying you were wrong," she began and Indra smirked. It fell just as quickly as it appeared when she continued. "Doesn't mean I believe you're completely right either."

"I'd be concerned if you did," he muttered to himself.

"Back to the point though; what do we do next?" Nagisa asked. "We can't just sit back and do nothing."

"We're not doing nothing, Nagisa. We need to write down what we know of the future and proceed from there," Indra answered. "Do you think Obito is still in Konoha?"

"Kakashi never really talked about his team. Only when directly asked did he offer anything up. We were lucky to know there names were Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin. From what I know, both died months apart during and after the war." She yawned, one of many in the last half-hour.

Indra _'hn'ed'_ before standing up rather soundlessly. Nagisa looked at him in question, nearly gasping when he came to her side and pulled her up fluidly. Their eyes met, and as her neck tilted up she realized he'd gotten taller since they'd arrived in the past. Either that or she was getting shorter, and she kind of doubted she was going to get any taller than she already was.

"We're no good like this. We should head back to sleep, and finish this in the morning with a clear head," he told her.

She wanted to protest, but the words escaped her.

He was right, again. _Damn._

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

Nagisa and Indra did talk about their next move. After some debate it was decided they needed to stop Madara from ever getting Obito. That was easier said than done. Neither knew when the mission to Kannabi Bridge happened.

They actually knew very little that happened before their own birth, which wouldn't happen for over a year in concern to their counterparts. Kurama had assured them they hadn't stopped their own births by being here. It made little sense when one thought too much about two of the same soul being in one place.

They assumed it was similar to how they could be transmigrations of Asura and Indra, and yet Hashirama and Madara had been resurrected through the Edo Tensei without any problems in their timeline. If one likened transmigration to reincarnation of the soul, than that was akin to having two of the same soul within feet of one another.

It wasn't until now they realized how unprepared they were when they came to the past. Considering they were dying before Kurama had saved them, Nagisa knew they wouldn't have been able to gather the information needed anyway. They wouldn't have even known what to look for, but the truth of the mater was they didn't know what they were doing (what seventeen year olds did). All they knew was that they had a chance for a better future, and they were going to do everything they could to accomplish that future.

"Indra, I had a thought recently. Do you think we still have our summoning contracts?" shed asked as they poured over every event they knew about and wanted to prevent.

At the top of the list was Obito and Rin's death, the Kyūbi attack which led to Kushina and Minato's death, the Uchiha clan Massacre, and so on and so forth. It seemed like such an impossible task for even them. Nagisa couldn't help but get the feeling it would become more troublesome than they thought.

Indra narrowed his eyes pensively. "If our timeline still existed, I'd say yes. Since our timeline doesn't exist anymore, I don't think we do. Do you still feel a connection to the toads as a sage?"

She frowned and shook her head. "No, I don't."

All summoners had a connection to their summons through their contract. Being a sage she had a stronger connection, where as most never even noticed. Since arriving she'd not felt that bond. Until now, she'd simply not thought much on it with everything that was happening. Survival had to come first. It was actually during their training with Benihime that it was brought up, but since Benihime had limited time to aid them it was quickly brushed aside to consider later.

"It's the same for me. I can't feel any connection to the snakes or hawks." Indra sighed. "Do you want to sign the toads contract again?"

"That would be impossible," she said with a frown. "Ero-sennin won't let just anyone sign it, and the toads only allow for two to three summoners at a time. No, I'll just have to find a new summon."

She would miss the toads, but she'd most likely see them again one day. Her counterpart would without a doubt be given the contract after being made a genin, so it was just a game of patience.

"That shouldn't be too hard. Didn't Benihime say there were a few contracts in the vault?"

"Yeah, I'll head down today. Do you want to pick one, or do you know where the hawk contract is?" asked Nagisa. She didn't bother mentioning the snake contract, both knew it was out of their reach.

"I do actually. The Hawk contract was found outside Uzushio, on one of the smaller islands in a temple. It was probably left there by someone running from the destruction of Uzu. It should still be there," he explained.

Indra expected Nagisa to be upset the contract had been apart of Uzushio and taken by Orochimaru at some point, but she just nodded and rubbed her temples.

"Good. At least this time Orochimaru wont have it," she told him.

"Headache?" he asked, and she nodded with a heavy breath.

"I'm just trying to sort all of these memories my clones amassed. Most of it is pretty minor, just them moving from place to place, but since they were spread out they had no idea when one dismissed itself. Plenty of them ended up dismissing in groups by mistake."

"Hn. When you're ready we should leave for the Uzu isle to get the contract," he said, unsure what else could be said. He'd never been good at trying to comfort someone, whether they were in pain or grieving, and unlike Sakura he had little to no medical knowledge – aside from basic first aid.

Nagisa smiled faintly and stood. "I'll go cook lunch then. We should eat before leaving for unknown territory." She straightened her orange and blue kimono before leaving the family room for the kitchen. On the back of the kimono was the Uzumaki spiral mostly hidden by her red hair held in a low ponytail.

Indra sat back with a sigh, the journal they'd used to record everything they knew about the future and what they should do about it lay in front of him. A seal keyed to Nagisa and his own chakra was burned on the back cover.

Although anything could happen, for now they had a plan.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

After lunch they wasted no time in packing a bag for their mission and replacing their weapons. After a while of hardly having more then a few kunai or shuriken on them, given that Uzushio was deserted other than them, it felt rather refreshing to have their pouches and weapons back.

Indra had found a high necked gray shirt, some ANBU style pants that were tapped down at the ankles and tucked into a new pair of dark sandals. He'd replaced his old chokutō, which had been broken before their arrival, with a new one from the Uzumaki armory. He still had the pieces of his old sword, but he didn't have the necessary skills to fix it.

He'd become fond of his new blade, despite it's differences. The handle had the Uzumaki spiral instead of an Uchiha fan, but Nagisa had used precise wind chakra to carve the Uchiha fan into the metal of the blade for him. He'd not asked her to, she'd simply taken it from him one day and the next she was inscribing his clan symbol in the sword.

 _'It doesn't seem right for you to be without anything with the Uchiha fan on it,'_ she'd told him with a fox-like grin before gliding out of the room, her pigtails trailing behind her.

When they finally journeyed to the mainland he'd have to find her some ramen, she'd been complaining about the fact she didn't have the right ingredients on the island to make any. To be honest he was getting rather sick of deer, rabbit, and fish himself.

Nagisa on the other hand, had found a dark charcoal shirt which zipped up into a high collar, with long sleeves, and orange accents on the zipper and sleeves. Under it she wore a mesh armor shirt, a rare find on the island. Her shirt came to about mid thigh, with a white obi-sash tied around her waist and slits up to her hips for movement, and she wore black shorts underneath. Orange stockings came up to her thighs and she'd found a pair of dark shinobi boots in her size.

Without Sakura to heal them, Nagisa began studying medical techniques, which Benihime had aided her in. it wasn't the easiest task for an Uzumaki given their struggles with chakra control, but she'd found it a little easier to control her chakra since she'd come to an understanding with Kurama and been given Hamura's chakra.

Being able to see how chakra flowed and the tenketsu with her Byakugan helped a lot as well. She was just a beginner, but she'd taken to wearing the customary medical pouch along with her other pouches. Before leaving they both threw on gray traveling cloaks. After so long of residing inside Uzushio it was both odd and refreshing to leave.

Technically, one could argue Nagisa had left the island thanks to her clones' memories, but seeing it briefly through second hand memories wasn't the same as actually living it. Indra and Nagisa hardly said a word the entire time, both subtly observing the area as they traveled.

They'd been shown a map by Benihime, who knew were everything was kept inside the Uzumaki vault, and the woman had been strict and astute in drilling everything about the islands into their heads. Nagisa probably had it worse, since on the first few days Benihime had gone over nothing but chakra control, the Byakugan – which she knew a bit about thanks to her lover, Jun – and the clan history. Nagisa had never been the most book smart, she wasn't stupid but she learned best by doing.

Thankfully, Benihime had a way with words that didn't bore her, and using clones to read certain books about the clan helped move things along while making it easier for her to retain the information.

Uzushio may have been around longer than Konoha, but back then they'd mostly been a clan village, and as such the history while vast wasn't as diverse as Konoha's. The Uzu isle they were headed for was about four hours from Uzushiogakure, which was situated nearly in the middle of the main Uzu island.

When they arrived they saw the natural land-bridge to the western Uzu isle was still in decent shape, with only a few chunks blown off and partially underwater. They hadn't realized it before, but the island was one you could easily get lost on. if not for Benihime's lessons and the map they had, they'd have gotten lost more than a few times.

It was even more confusing when one saw the destruction Uzu itself had taken. Landmarks on the map were gone or eroded with time, so in many ways the map was only somewhat helpful. While most of the destruction had occurred inside Uzushio itself, there were still signs of battle scaring the land outside the village. Despite this fact, the Land of Eddies was still a beautiful place.

"Seeing this place now, it make me wonder... what were the islands like before Uzushio fell?" Nagisa asked as they sat foot on the western island.

Indra's eyes softened for a few seconds as he glanced over at the redhead. The Land of Eddies was one of the more beautiful lands either had been too, they could only imagine how it looked in it's prime. Though neither had spoken about it, he knew she missed home.

Both of them felt the homesickness setting in over the last three months. Nagisa more than him missed Konoha, and as much as she connected with Uzushio and Whirlpool in general, it would always be more her mothers' (both Benihime and Kushina) homeland before it was her own.

She had adopted Whirlpool as her birthplace, but she couldn't let go of the Will of Fire passed down to her. Indra in his own way missed Konoha – ironic, since not long ago he'd wanted to destroy it. Both had accepted Whirlpool as their home for now, and they'd even miss it one day, but eventually both knew they had to return to Konoha. Sad fact was, they could clean Uzushio and surrounding areas up but there were only a handful of it's people left alive.

Its time had come and gone, the only thing they could do was honor it and pass down it's history and lessons. Considering the hidden maternal side Nagisa had always hidden – rather poorly, Indra thought – that wouldn't be an issue.

"Look, I see the temple now!" Nagisa said, pointing to the distant building about fifty feet in front of them.

Seeing as the island they were on was one of the smallest of the Uzu isles, it was hardly a shock they found it so quickly. From a high enough vantage point one could just make out the river that spiraled through the cluster of islands, helping give said river it's name, the Uzume River.

Once they got within a few meters of the temple they stopped. The temple was old, disheveled, and the roof was nearly caved in. it reminded Indra of how the Uzumaki Mask Storage Temple looked in the future.

Standing guard on either side of the temple steps and entrance were two Daitengu statues, both had wings and were dressed similar. One held a shakujō ready to defend, while the other held a feathered fan; a ha-uchiwa, Nagisa realized. She'd seen many of the fans in the storage house. They looked to be the most preserved part of the temple.

"The Tengu Shrine looks a little worse for ware, but the scroll should be inside," Indra said, and Nagisa's brow rose as she tilted her head like a curious fox kit.

"Tengu?" she echoed, confused. "I thought we were here for the Hawk contract, not the crows."

Rolling his eyes he answered, "The Uzumaki who hid it here did so because it would be safe, not for its name. They were probably the previous summoner and didn't have access to the vault so they came here."

She hummed in understanding. A few seconds passed and then she grinned. Nagisa took a hold of Indra's traveling cloak and pulled him along. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she demanded as she tugged.

"No, wait!" he warned, but it was too late. A trap had been activated and the ground shook under them briefly.

"W-what's going on?" Nagisa stammered, her eyes widening as her Byakugan activated instinctively and at Kurama's urging. With a silent gasp she saw the seal matrix light up around them. It was familiar, she recalled the array from something she'd read in the vault. "Indra, I think this seal is meant to trap a technique until certain conditions are met."

"You don't say," Indra said in a dead, yet almost mocking, tone.

Nagisa rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "My bad."

He sighed, and they took a few more steps back. Trying to put some distance between them and the temple. His hand went to his chokutō. It looked nearly identical to his original broken sword, but with clear differences. There were seals inscribed on it to keep it sharp, from rusting, and to channel larger amounts of chakra than regular chakra metal could without breaking down.

"We'll talk about you rushing into things later. Right now we have bigger problems," he said.

They fell into their respective stances, ready for the unavoidable fight. They watched as creatures with masks appeared out of rings with certain symbols. Nagisa cursed under her breath in recognition of said symbols.

"This isn't good," she muttered, causing Indra to glance at her. She summoned several shadow clones, and realizing they were heavily outnumbered, he followed suit and made two shadow clones of his own. "They're Kumenjū (Nine Mask Beast), a very powerful technique that creates beast based on certain legendary figures. My grandfather was the last master of the technique. He must have set this up as a last defense."

Indra had no time to ask or comment. Instead they were forced to jump away from each other by the beasts, one in particular seemed to initiate this – the snake-like one (known as Kinja 'golden snake'). They spread out along with their clones. Their formation had the actual Nagisa and Indra facing one of the beast, while their clones handled the other seven.

"Rasengan!" A clone exclaimed, falling from where Tennyo (Celestial Maiden) had thrown her up into the air.

Replacing herself with the kunai she'd thrown as she fell, Nagisa's clone slammed the Rasengan into Tennyo's stomach, sending her back across the ground, knocking into a surprised Byakko (White Tiger). It was back on it's feet within seconds and attacking, using it's ribbons like whips.

The redheaded clone winced at the contact the ribbons made. If it weren't for the fact she was reinforced with more chakra than normal shadows clones, she'd have popped by now. A kick surprised her and she hunched forward, her left hand going to her gut as her right defended her from one of Tennyo's ribbons.

It wrapped around her arm tightly, and she gritted her teeth only to gasp in shock when a hand went through her chest, ribcage and wrapped around her heart. With a single pull the clone went up in smoke. Before Tennyo could do anything more lightning surrounded her, making her seize up.

Struggling to turn her upper body, she was met with the sight of Indra (one of his shadow clones) standing there with a Chidori Nagashi (One Thousand Birds Current) coursing around him. Indra's lightning laced sword cut through her mask and body before she could process a way of getting out of his hold. With it's mask destroyed, Tennyo fell to the ground in it's original form; a hawk.

The real Nagisa used the distraction caused by the two clones to attack the recovering Byakko, driving her fist into the large tiger-like beasts face, shattering it's mask. The strength behind her punch was enhanced by her initial nine-tails chakra cloak. With it's mask broken Byakko returned to its original form, and Nagisa pulls a tantō from her waist. She'd never been much for weapons, but Benihime had insisted she learn to handle something more than the usual kunai and shuriken.

"Two down, seven to go," Nagisa said.

Indra grunted, dodging Kinja's body which had tried to bind him. He ran along it's body while dragging a Chidori up the snakes body and through its mask.

"Make that six," he corrected.

They met in the middle, surrounded by what remained of the beast not occupied by their remaining clones (which was only a few of Nagisa's). Indra and Nagisa glanced at each other with their activated bloodlines, before separating. Nagisa shunshined closer to Seiryū, a beast who resembled a seahorse.

She was naturally quicker while using the chakra cloak, and it only had a split second to escape the slash of her tantō. It roared as the blade cut a thin slice from it's flesh, the wind chakra she'd added to the blade allowing a farther reach. It's tail came back around in order to slam into Nagisa's back. Seeing it coming Nagisa jumped over it, landing on it's tail and using it's body as a long springboard before aiming her chakra enhanced tantō for it's mask.

One more down.

Suzaku (the Vermilion Bird) gave a shrill cry overhead, one of it's wings being severed by Indra's chokutō. The flying masked beast hit the ground inches from where she once stood, throwing up dust and chunks of earth.

Nagisa shot Indra an annoyed glare when he landed crouched on the ground a foot away. "Watch where you're throwing those things – Rasengan!" Nagisa exclaimed, changing the subject quickly upon noticing Suzaku trying to get back up. The whirling ball of wind chakra connected and ground the monster-birds mask into dust.

Four to go.

Indra smirked. "Hn. Just don't get in my way, dobe."

She smiled at the words, a feeling of nostalgia fleetingly passing over her. "Sure thing, teme," she shot back.

They were standing together now. The masked beast had all been defeated, other than arguably the strongest three beast. The entire time that Nagisa, Indra, and their clones had been fighting the other beast, Shinigami had stood on the somewhat broken down roof of the temple, watching them. Hokuto Sennin and Nanto Sennin both stood on either side of the temple entrance as guards, seemingly waiting for Shinigami's orders.

The so called Shinigami masked beast jumped down, his scythe ready to cleave off their heads. He seemed to have more free will than the others. Nagisa didn't know much about this technique since there were no detailed scrolls on it, not even in the vault. She did find it strange that chakra mediums had this much intelligence, though having encountered Benihime who had been little more than a chakra impression and the Bijū maybe it wasn't so far fetched.

She smirked fondly over at Indra.

"What do you say, Indra?" Nagisa asked with a glance at him, her Byakugan blazing like a full moon. "I'll bring the wind, if you'll bring the fire."

Indra grunted, sliding his chokutō back into it's place at his waist. His hands forming the needed seals. "Be ready for anything," he warned before molding chakra.

Nagisa nodded, a plan forming in her mind to deal with Hokuto and Nanto. "Futon: Hanachiri Mai (Wind Release: Scattering Flower Dance)." A cyclone of pale petals headed for Shinigami. It may have been less frightening than some of her other jutsu, but it would work well for the combination technique because the user had complete control of where the wind was directed.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)." Indra exhaled a stream of fire, which mixed with the cyclone and spiraled together just before reaching Shinigami – growing bigger. Looking over at Indra, Nagisa caught his eyes. The two of them had always worked well together when they weren't fighting as genin. Their teamwork flowed even without words.

While Shinigami was distracted by deflecting the fiery cyclone by twirling his scythe, Nagisa had created two shadow clones to handle Hokuto and Nanto. If she remembered right, those two had the power to create barriers, which worked well in conjunction to Shinigami's powers. If they didn't get rid of the two sage-like beast they'd have a harder time taking out Shinigami.

Indra noticed the two clones head for Hokuto and Nanto, and realized what her plan was. They'd need Shinigami to stay focused on them though. Both clones had powered up into Sage mode, which might actually have been over kill, but at least he knew the twin beasts' barrier would have little chance.

Shinigami was having a hard time keeping the combination jutsu at bay, but Nagisa knew she couldn't keep the jutsu up much longer.

"Indra, we need a cover. If he can't see us we'll at least have one advantage," she said.

Nodding, Indra thought fast and went through several seals in a split second. "Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu (Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust Technique). A great cloud of ash spread out and Nagisa and Indra darted to either side of the masked beast.

They had obviously confused it. Great crescent chakra blades soared past them, trying to hit them by what seemed to be luck, but they quickly realized must be more than that since his aim was too close to be pure luck. Nagisa flinch when one sliced into her leg. It was kind of a double edged blade when it came to the hiding in ash and dust technique, since they couldn't really make out much more than Shinigami could. Being a chakra construct he was easy to sense though.

By the time the jutsu was clearing up enough for them to see, Indra was already behind him with his hand engulfed in lightning. Nagisa phased into view a few meters away using a Water Shunshin, and had several glowing chains coming from her back, snaking under and along the ground, binding the masked beast in one place.

It struggled to get free of the Uzumaki Adamantine Sealing Chains. Considering a bijū couldn't break them, the masked beast didn't have a chance.

"Chidori!" Indra's hand slammed through half of it's head – Shinigami had tried evading the attack but failed. He followed it up by unsheathing his sword, and in one motion cleaving through it's neck, the one area without chains holding it still.

The beast dropped its scythe and fell to pieces. Finally the last beast had been killed, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Her clones had made quick work of the twin beasts with sage mode, and dispelled once their jobs were finished.

"Maybe it wasn't a trap after all," she began to say, looking around with her Byakugan for more traps.

"Hn... it was a test," he stated, finishing her thought for her. He glanced at her, looking for injuries.

He could see where she'd been hurt, but he also knew they were superficial wounds from the blood on her clothes and the fact her healing was heightened not only by her Uzumaki blood, but by Kurama too. Compared to Kaguya, the nine masked beast had been minor annoyances. Nagisa exhaled, her ribs protesting but already on the mend. Even with Kurama they would remain tender for a while, taking a little longer to heal.

"We should hurry back to the village before sundown," Nagisa said, but she was thinking about the battle.

It had taken longer than either had expected. The masked beast were stronger than either had thought they'd be. Both had impressive chakra reserves and stamina, so the fact they weren't exhausted wasn't unusual. Both were tired though. Indra couldn't help but consider that, maybe they were becoming too complacent since the war.

They did train, but between trying to figure out where they were, what to do, and coming up with a plan, they hadn't put much focus on it. There was still so much about their abilities – about the abilities given to them by the Rikudō Sennin – that they didn't understand.

Indra still had his Rinnegan and Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. His chakra and skills were still there to. It hit him sometime after they arrived that one of his main moves, the Chidori, had probably already been developed by the Kakashi of this timeline.

He'd been trying to figure out how to use his Chidori without starting an Interrogation. It was a similar situation for Nagisa, whose Rasengan was well known to be a signature move of the Yondaime (or soon to be Yondaime; neither were sure the exact date the Fourth Hokage took office).

Right now they didn't know how to solve the problem, besides bullshitting their way through it. Saying they'd re-engineered the techniques after witnessing them and seeing them for themselves. Plausible, given Nagisa had the Byakugan and he had the Sharingan. It helped that the Chidori was just manipulation of lightning chakra and the Rasengan was just chakra manipulation in general.

"Lets go," he answered. And they both entered the rundown temple.

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

Finding the Hawk summoning contract was simple once inside. The last summoner had stashed it inside a hollow statue. With her Byakugan they found it in a few seconds. Once they had the contract they left the isle for the village having finished their self-imposed mission. The sun was just shinning it's last rays of light over the hills of Uzushio.

Twilight had fallen over the silent village.

"I'm glad to be back in the village," Nagisa muttered with a relieved sigh. Her shoulders slumping forward.

Indra understood where she was coming from. They were still accepting everything even if they didn't outwardly express it. He suspected Nagisa's continued bouts of unease was their continued absence from Konoha. He was still unsure how he felt about the village, but a part of him did miss it. He wasn't loosing any sleep over it thought.

Nagisa understood they couldn't return right now. Not with the third war as it was. Nagisa, unlike him, loved Konoha. And except for her earliest memories, she'd always loved Konoha. Maybe not its people, but the village was her home. She felt welcome in Uzushio and the Land of Eddies, but it could never replace Konoha.

"Hn," he said, before elaborating. "We should sign the contracts and set up our deals before it gets any later."

She nodded and followed him into the back training yard. Once they made it there, Nagisa left for a few seconds to get her chosen contract. There were a handful to choose from, but one was the original Uzumaki summoning contract. Usually only the main branch, considered the royal family of the large clan, were allowed to sign it. And only those who who proved themselves.

The Strength of a Hundred Seal was much the same, created originally by Uzumaki Kiku, the mother of Uzumaki Mito. Tsunade had simply perfected the seal with her perfect chakra control. Benihime had made sure she knew all of this and more before her chakra ran out, even teaching her every chakra control exercise she knew. She'd actually found it easier to control since she received Hamura's chakra and activated her byakugan.

Both unrolled their respective contracts and bit into their thumbs. Blood flowed and before it could stop they signed their names. For a split second they had to hesitate. They'd had many weeks to get used to their new names, but that was being addressed as Indra and Nagisa.

They hadn't had to sign their new names on anything official yet. Signing it now was letting go of their past identities for good, and there was some hesitance lingering there, but in the end they each signed their contracts without any regrets.

Looking over at him, Nagisa smiled. "Together?" she asked, and Indra nodded.

Putting some space between them, they formed the needed hand-seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," they said in unison, their hands placed flat on the ground. Two clouds of smoke appeared along with the large forms of their respective animals.

"Who are you, human?" the large regal hawk, male by the tone, asked. His tone was neither angry or kind, simply aggravated. Two hawk eyes observed his summoner and then his surroundings. His eyes widened when he recognized Uzushio, despite the damage done to the village.

"That is a good question," a regal feminine voice said. "If I'm not impressed I'll shred them apart and feed them to my cubs." Nagisa would have been more concerned at the sudden threat, but Benihime had already forewarned her that the Tigers were a stern clan and expected strong and loyal summoners.

The tiger wasn't quite a large as the Hawk, but towered over the two humans. She was royal looking, with pure white and black fur, purple eyes, and on the tigers brow was the black outline of a rhombus, similar to the Strength of a Hundred Seal. It was probably where the inspiration for it came from. Right now she looked surprised at being summoned, especially in Uzushiogakure.

Nagisa wasn't shocked by the two summons attitude. She remembered Gamabunta had reacted similarly when she'd first summoned him. Benihime had told her of the two original Uzumaki clan summons; the Tiger and Crane clans. The Crane summons had come into their hands sometime after the Tigers, and were used mainly by branch members.

The Cranes were extremely loyal, and only allowed summoners from the Uzumaki main or branch family. It was similar for the Tiger clan, but they were more laid back unless angered and would allow outsiders to sign with an Uzumaki's approval. She wasn't sure how the Tigers would have reacted to someone without Uzumaki blood now that the clan was all but gone.

She didn't know as much about the Hawks, but she'd read enough history to know they'd gotten the contract through the Takamaru Clan. The clan wars had dragged the clan into extinction, and the handful that survived married into the Uzumaki clan. Nagisa's five-times great grandmother was a Takamaru before her marriage. It was through her that the Uzumaki came into possession of the Hawk contract.

The Hawk boss, Garuda, noticed the humans but more so he recognized Uzushio. Before he lost his temper though, Garuda took notice of their chakra and logically realized one of them was an Uzumaki to have entered the village.

The only other way in were the escape tunnels that ran under the island, but only a native of Uzushio knew how to find them (they had been caved in since the destruction of Uzu though). The raven haired man was the one who'd summoned him, but Garuda knew the moment he saw him and felt his chakra he was not an Uzumaki. The girl on the other hand was, though her white eyes confused him. While she looked and felt like an Uzumaki, she had the white eyes of the _Hyūga._

"You, girl, you're an Uzumaki," the tiger summon, Arashihime said.

"I am," she answered.

Arashihime looked at the girl with long red hair. She looked very much like her last summoner, Benihime. And she could see the resemblance between Benihime's nieces and this girl as well. She was too young to be Uzumaki Aiko or Uzumaki Kushina, and her eyes were all wrong as well. Her white eyes struck a cord with Arashihime, they reminded her of the child Benihime was supposed to have – could it be that Benihime had hidden her daughter's existence even from her?

Sensing her chakra closer, Arashihime's eyes softened. "I didn't think I'd ever be summoned by another Uzumaki," she said sadly. "Tell me your name, child."

"I'm Uzumaki Nagisa, daughter of Uzumaki Benihime and Hyūga Jun."

Both summons seemed taken aback by her words, but almost expecting. Garuda and Arashihime couldn't help but think there was something Nagisa wasn't telling them. Not being ones to force information from others, even potential summoners, they kept quiet. If it was important they'd be told. Arashihime had the least doubt her words were the truth; Nagisa truly did look like Benihime and even Jun.

"What of you, boy?" Garuda asked. "You have summoned me, it's only right you introduce yourself."

"I'm Uchiha Indra," he replied, seemingly uncaring he'd been ignored until now. He was used to Garuda's personality, even if this timeline's Garuda didn't know him.

The hawk nodded. "I thought so. I take it you desire the aid of the Hawk clan."

Arashihime straightened up, her chest and chin up proudly. "And the Tiger clan."

Indra and Nagisa both nodded. The two summons surveyed them for a few more seconds before giving their answers.

"Alright," Arashihime said. If tigers could shrug in the same manner as a human, the movement of her shoulders would have mimicked the same gesture. Garuda echoed her sentiment.

The two humans gave the animals rather deadpanned looks, Nagisa's more apparent. They both had expected Garuda and Arashihime to ask more questions or test them more. Even Indra was caught a bit off guard, and he'd dealt with an alternate Garuda before. The time the contract had spent in the hands of Orochimaru in their timeline must of made a difference to Garuda's personality.

"What! Just like that, no test?" Nagisa demanded.

Arashihime nodded. "Just like that. You're an Uzumaki, so I'm willing to give you a chance. The Tigers are powerful sensors and I can tell you're powerful. You'll have to explain the red chakra to me one day though, Nagisa-hime."

"You must have gotten past the test seal set up at the temple. Even with the help of Nagisa, I see you you are worthy of the Hawk clans power. Don't disappoint me, boy."

"I agree. We expect to work as equals with you, and with time we shall educate you in our clan ways." Arashihime looked at Nagisa. "I look forward to working with you, hime. As an Uzumaki I expect great things from you, like I have with all my previous summoners. You're mother being one of them." She smiled fondly, remembering Benihime and their time as partners. They'd won plenty of fights together. She did feel a bit let down that she'd not thought her trust worthy enough to reveal the truth of her daughter.

"Once we've come to know each other better, I shall teach you all I've taught your mother."

Nagisa smiled happily. "I look forward to it, Arashihime."

Garuda and Arashihime didn't stay much longer, and returned to their respective summon clans to spread the news of their new summoners. Both clans were ecstatic to hear of their first summoners in years. They were even more uplifted to know one of them was an Uzumaki of the royal family.

A direct descendant of Takamaru Kushinada (Nagisa's five-times great grandmother), and Uzumaki Benihime, the princess of the clan and the last clan heads older sister. In time they would come to hold the new summoner of the Hawks in the same esteem as they did Nagisa.

Once they'd left, Nagisa breathed a sigh of relief. Now that they had a summons again, keeping an eye on Team Minato would be much easier. She wouldn't have to continue exhausting her clones now. Her tigers would blend into the Forest of Death well, and Indra's hawks would be just as inconspicuous given they weren't the size of Garuda.

Getting to their feet, Nagisa grinned and linked Indra's arm with her own. Indra looked down at the redhead with hidden surprise. On the inside he was happy to see her happy, she'd not smiled like that since before the war.

"Come on. I'll make dinner and we can relax. We'll be useless to this timeline if we don't pace ourselves."

"Hn," he grunted in agreement. She pulled him along with her into the house, and his eyes softened a fraction as he watched her smile and bright blue tinted eyes regain their spark. He didn't bother pulling way from her or arguing.

She was right after all.


	5. Mercenaries

**.**

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 **The Roaring of The Sea.**

 **Chapter 5: Mercenaries.**

Two months passed and while they'd become more at home in the timeline, Nagisa and Indra were also increasingly nervous. Unable to pin-point exactly when to act in order to prevent Obito's manipulation and Rin's death. At the same time they didn't know where to find Madara or Black Zetsu, which had put a halt to any thought of attacking them head on.

Keeping an eye on Team Minato became easier however. It was a relief to have summons again, not only because of the advantage it gave them in battle, but also for reconnaissance. Before, Nagisa was resigned to sending out clones, which could become suspicious should they be noticed, even if they commonly changed their appearances. Now they only had to send a summon.

Indra had sent two of his younger hawks to keep watch over them, while she'd stationed a tiger in the Forest of Death. Both animals were not unusual to the Land of Fire. Without that weighing over them, they focused more on their training. Nagisa found teachers in chakra control and medical ninjutsu with the Tigers.

The clan had helped many Uzumaki in the same areas before, and Arashihime promised to teach her everything she'd taught her previous summoners. When she wasn't working with them she focused on fūinjutsu and training her Byakugan. She even taught Indra a few things about fūinjutsu. Orochimaru had taught him a lot in the three years he studied under the sannin, but fūinjutsu had never been expanded on other than some basics. When he didn't join Nagisa learning fūinjutsu, Indra honed his new Rinnegan and his EMS abilities.

He'd only had the two Dōjutsu for a few months, and while he'd gone mostly by instinct during the Fourth War, he needed to train his eyes. In two months he'd made progress. Nagisa had as well, but for now she had trained her Byakugan as far as she could; her eyes' range made a vast improvement.

After a few weeks it became clear they couldn't remain in Uzushio any longer, simply training and living their days in relative peace (aside from recurring nightmares). They couldn't go on ignoring the war on the mainlands. Kurama was very vocal about it, astonished it had taken them so long to become restless. He understood why they'd not announced their presence to the world though, because leaving the island and becoming involved in the war would do just that.

They had healed, created back stories, and laid the foundations to their plans; it was time to leave and make names for themselves. Perhaps even make a difference in the war. The first time they traveled to the mainland they chose the Land of Fire to come ashore. It was closer to Uzushio than the Land of Water or Land of Waves.

Because her eyes clearly connected her to the Hyūga clan, Nagisa had opted to keep her eyes hidden behind a white cloth. Anyone would assume she was blind, but thanks to her sensory skills and her Byakugan, Nagisa could see perfectly. It kept rumors of an odd redheaded Hyūga at bay, which was their desire.

Neither were ready for the news that a rouge Uchiha and Hyūga with suspiciously Uzumaki red hair to float around the hidden villages. The last thing they needed was the Hyūga and Uchiha clans – much less the other villages – up their asses. It would only last so long, especially given their chosen profession, but that was better than the alternative.

They didn't actively seek out the war front and agreed to stay out of it as much as possible. Instead they took up the missions that were neglected because of the war. Missions such as guarding important figures and even some lesser known ones. Escorting merchants and like from place to place, and the occasional assassination (Nagisa wasn't very comfortable with the latter, but Indra typically handled the messier missions knowing this).

With the war there was more than enough free missions for mercenaries to pick up the slack. At first no one cared to notice, but eventually they'd become too well known for the hidden villages to ignore. In the last two months since seeking missions, mostly in or near the Land of Fire, they'd finished a handful of jobs. Usually staying in civilian villages they passed through before returning to Uzushio for a time.

It was the completion of a mission that saw them passing through the Land of Fire presently.

"Oi, bastard! We should stop near Tanzaku-gai and get some ramen," Nagisa said happily, her mouth salivating at the thought of ramen.

She didn't get to eat it often anymore. It was difficult to get the ingredients in Uzushio since it was just them on the island, so they had to go to the mainlands for it. With the war food was more and more scarce in civilian villages. The hidden villages paid a lot of money for any and all supplies they could get their hands on, and food and weapons were at the top of the list.

It may have increased the flow of money for the merchants and farmers, but it left the smaller villages without as much to buy for themselves since the hidden villages bought in such bulk. It wasn't so bad in the Land of Fire compared to the other countries, but that was only because the Land of Fire had plenty of fertile farm lands.

Indra withheld a sigh. "Our client is expecting us soon, and you want to stop for ramen?"

Nagisa continued to grin and even though he couldn't see her eyes he knew they shown bright with mischief and the prospect of ramen.

"Yep! The client can wait a few more hours. We completed our end of the contract, Indra. I think we earned some ramen, 'ttebayo!" She cheered, pumping her fist into the air victoriously.

"Hn..."

She frowned momentarily before smiling. "That isn't a no-o," she sang and chuckled. "You'll learn to love ramen one day. But when we get home I'll make some onigiri with extra tomatoes, promise!"

He didn't hate ramen, but he doubted he'd ever love it either; Indra's lips turned up into a small smile at the pleasant thought of Nagisa's cooking. It was easy to forget that Nagisa could cook because she was always eating at Ichiraku's growing up. But it really should have been obvious, not even she could live off ramen alone.

He'd come to enjoy her cooking, it was what they'd lived off of since they crashed on Whirlpool. It reminded him a little of his mother's cooking – though Nagisa wasn't afraid of being spontaneous and experimenting with foods and spice. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't (and when it was bad, it was _**bad.**_ A rare occurrence, thankfully).

They'd stopped at this particular ramen bar before, and wouldn't be surprised if the owner was somehow related to the Ichiraku's. Neither were sure when exactly the Ichiraku family arrived in Konoha. Nagisa knew it had to be well before her birth since she'd been told her mother was a regular customer at the stand.

"Ah, back again I see," the owner, a man between his fifties and sixties said. He had graying, thinning, brown hair and dark beady eyes.

Ichimaru Ginta had lived in the village closest to Tanzaku-gai for nearly fifty-five years. His family had started this stand on the outskirts for the sol purpose of catering to wanderers and Shinobi. The recipes had been in the family for generations.

Chains of ramen bars run by his relations popped up around the Land of Fire and other countries from time to time, but only his second cousin, Teuchi, had successfully founded a booming business inside one of the hidden villages. Indeed, Ichimaru's was the lesser known cousin of the Ichiraku Ramen bar inside Konoha.

For the last few weeks his best customers had been these two wanderers. Even then he had a hard time believing the woman, probably no older than his son who was eighteen, was a Kunoichi. She always had a white cloth tied around her head, covering her eyes, insinuating she was blind. He assumed she was blind, yet she never acted as if she were.

She walked without the aid of a stick or her male companion. Soon enough he became aware that she must be sensing chakra to get around, but it was still eerie how she never asked where something was and never bumped into anything or anyone. Ginta never asked, but he knew she must be a kunoichi since no civilian could have pulled off such feats. He had no way of knowing that Nagisa was no more blind than he was, but that her sight was far better than his could hope to be.

The raven-haired man was the same age as his partner, and Ginta had no problem buying him as a shinobi. He was rather aloof and cold. He only ever saw emotion of any kind when it was directed at Nagisa. Indra was hard to read, unlike Nagisa who was nearly an open book. After years of serving people of every variety, Ginta believed he'd become rather good at reading people. But with Indra and Nagisa he only ever got a faint picture.

"Yep! Two large bowls of miso ramen with extra pork for me, please," she said enthusiastically. Her vibrant hair unlike any he'd seen in years (since Uzushio's fall), was held by two orange bands in pigtails.

A red headband with a metal plate depicting a spiral on it hung from her throat. Indra's mirrored Nagisa's, but it had a black band and hung from his waist, hooked to a belt. They were rather worn, and most people tended to look right over them. The only reason Ginta had noticed was the fact he'd seen the two many times and he tended to notice small details. At first he'd been shocked, having not seen that symbol worn openly in years.

He had little doubt Nagisa was an Uzumaki with her red hair, but Indra was obviously just a survivor of the hidden villages destruction. He lacked any of the Uzumaki defining features. Ginta hadn't mentioned his suspicions. He knew how coveted Uzumaki's were. Though he doubted the two of them wore those headbands without having the power to protect themselves. It would have painted a large target on them otherwise.

"A bowl of salt ramen," Indra said. He always ordered the same thing, but so did Nagisa.

"You've got it," he replied and began making the large amount of ramen no doubt needed. Nagisa might start out with two bowls, but she usually ordered a few more after finishing her first order. At least she did if Indra didn't drag her off first.

When served Nagisa smiled and broke apart her chopsticks. "Itadakimasu," she said, before digging into her first bowl.

The entire time they ate Indra noticed how her shoulder would randomly tense, and he too felt the eyes on them. Instead of looking around for the watchers, he simply opened his senses and finished his ramen.

"Thanks, Ginta-san," Nagisa said, finishing her second bowl.

"Is that all today then?" the old man asked surprised. The blindfolded girl nodded, a small frown coming over her lips for a split second before she returned to her normal cheer.

"I'm afraid so. But we'll be back, 'ttebayo!" With a farewell wave, Nagisa linked arms with Indra and they walked off. A quarter of a mile down the road, Nagisa leaned her head into Indra's shoulder.

"We're being followed..." she muttered under her breath.

"Hn," Indra replied, "So it seems. Do you know how many?"

She'd been trying to learn the Minds Eye of the Kagura, which was a common ability in the clan, but she wasn't very good at it. Her strength lied with her chains, which were perhaps stronger than her mothers had been. Still, working with the tigers and her Byakugan supplemented what she couldn't perfect with the Minds Eye of the Kagura.

"Three. They're not ninja, just bandits. They probably saw us as an easy target since I'm blind." Nagisa smirked faintly, and Indra snorted. "They're not our biggest problem though. You might not have noticed yet, but there's a fight about five meters ahead of us. Iwa and Konoha..." Nagisa frowned.

Indra nodded. Now that she pointed it out he could faintly sense the chakra output from the battle. They would have to go through it or around in order to get to the capital and their client. Chances were they'd be spotted either way, if their impending fight against the bandits didn't alert them ahead of time.

"Let's deal with our weakness first," Indra said, and they both came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road. His hand went to his sword handle, and they watched unperturbed as the three bandits exited the wood around them.

For civilians and traveling caravans this would pose a problem, which was why they hired ninja, but for Indra and Nagisa – two well trained ninja – it was more of a nuisance. Nagisa shied away from the sudden atmosphere, playing up her supposed weakness. Edging closer to Indra's back she allowed a small gasp to escape her lips as she looked around.

To anyone she looked like the frightened young woman hiding behind her protector. Indra was always amazed how she could play a roll so well, when as long as he'd known her she'd always been so extroverted. Confident in herself and her abilities. The bandits played right into the act. Sneering and leering at Nagisa, while all but ignoring Indra's presence.

"Look what we have here," a man they took as the leader said. "We'll make this real quick. We want the girl."

Indra's expression didn't move an inch. "And why should I hand her over?"

"The boss isn't asking. He's telling you we're taking the girl," said the largest of the bandits, a nearly middle-aged man with a few scars that stood over six feet tall.

The other two were slighter than him, around the same height and build as Indra. It was rather strange to hear he wasn't the one in charge, usually that was how bandits worked. Instinct told Indra the man wasn't talking about the first one to speak up.

"W-who is y-your b-boss?" Nagisa quaked, mentally thanking Hinata for inspiring her. "Why w-would an-anyone wan-want me?"

"Don't play coy girl, you know why. Uzumaki's fetch a grand price and our employer wants you," the last one said.

Nagisa's shoulders dropped, and under her bandages her eyes narrowed and seethed like white fire. She had to stop herself from snarling like a fox, but her hands clenched in the fabric of her long tunic and shorts.

"Try it. I guarantee you wont live to try again," Indra said. A similar fire burning in his chest at the realization of what these bandits and their employer wanted with Nagisa. Outwardly he showed nothing but calm.

The burly one yelled, hefted his large halberd over his shoulder and ran for Indra. The man was tall, largely built, and had strength, but compared to Indra's speed he was slow. The other two bandits had darted past Indra and their partner for Nagisa, who they expected to be easy pickings.

A ninja would have thought twice before rushing in, most knowing the stories behind the Uzumaki clan, but these weren't trained ninja. Noticing one getting behind her to knock her out, she rotated her body, letting the man's hand sail past her body.

"Don't make us hurt you woman. For every bruise our pay gets docked." He snarled, annoyed the blind redhead was able to dodge his attempt at knocking her out with a blow to the back of the neck. She'd ducked and jumped in the next second to avoid Gorou's attempt to cut her Achilles heel.

Nagisa laughed, shocking them still for a few seconds. Her laugh was mocking, like a child playing with a new toy. Gritting his teeth, the first bandit, Tsuo, reached out and grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. To his shock she just smiled, her hands shooting out and jabbing him in multiple places along his arm. He shouted, feeling as if his entire arm was being continuously ripped into. He was forced to let her go and stumble back, but before she even hit the ground she exploded – violently.

"Wh-what the hell is this?!" Jin shouted, spinning around to see his partners being caught in an explosion. He probably had the most knowledge of ninja, but it was little more than a civilian would have and rumors his father told him. He'd never truly believed ninja to be more than hype.

Tsuo was on the ground clutching his arm and screaming from the broken and bleeding leg the blast had caused. Gorou looked dead, blood leaked from his mangled right arm and his skull looked to have cracked when he hit the ground. He and Tsuo both had numerous burns of varying degrees from being so close when the redhead's clone exploded.

Taking his eyes off Indra was a mistake, however. He found himself kicked into a tree and held there by glowing chains connected to the back of a reemerged redhead. Nagisa approached him as if she could see him, and he was visibly unnerved by it.

"Y-you're both ninja then."

"You mean your boss didn't tell you that?" Indra asked, his sword pointed at the mans throat. "Speak and we may let you go."

"What about Tsuo?" he asked, though he really didn't care. He was trying to buy time and break his bindings.

He realized as he watched the woman make a solid clone, which walked over to his pained partner and pinch something in his neck that sent him into unconsciousness, that there was no way out of the chains. He'd only heard rumor of the Uzumaki's ability to create chains with their chakra, seeing it in person – being bound by it – was another thing entirely.

"He'll live," Nagisa said. "He'll probably never regain the same control over his arm and leg again, though."

"Your other friend might not be so lucky. So, I'll ask this again – who do you work for?" Indra asked, pressing the tip of his sword against flesh.

Jin gritted his teeth, but realizing he was in a situation he couldn't get out of he complied. "Ito Shinrin, he's..."

"We know who he is," Indra interrupted, his tone dark. "He recently hired us. Seems we were right to be leery of him, Nagisa."

"It seems so," she said dejectedly. "We're already on our way there, so we can have some _words_ with Ito."

"You have what you want. Will you let us go?" The sword was removed from his throat.

"Personally I wouldn't, but Nagisa is a bleeding heart. Just know if you target us again there'll be no second chances."

Jin nodded and had little choice but to watch them leave. Despite being a bandit and have few morals himself, his father was a samurai before his death and if there was one thing his father drilled into his head it was honor (not that he'd taken the lessens to heart like his father wanted). He doubted Tsuo or Gorou would have had the same mindset about the situation.

 **.**

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Indra knew the moment they were within a few meters of the battle, that Nagisa wouldn't have been able to leave the Konoha-nin to fight alone. He thought he recognized three of the ninja as the parents of three of his former classmates – Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Akimichi Chōza. They were handling their own, as was expected of the infamous tag team of Ino–Shika–Chō, but the odds were against them at three against nearly a dozen ninja. It looked like they'd been ambushed on their way back from a mission.

"Indra," Nagisa muttered. "We have to help them..."

He didn't say anything, instead watching as Chōza was taken down by a tag team of three ninja. He nodded, knowing it was a moot point to argue with the dead last when she'd already made up her mind. Nagisa rushed to Chōza's aid. She body flickered next to the downed man, who struggled to stand and defend himself.

She decided not to use any of the skills remotely similar to the Jūken, which she'd been deconstructing with the aid of what she'd seen from Neji and Hinata, what they'd both told her in confidence, what Benihime had known of the style, and the little Indra had copied of their style with his Sharingan.

She had no desire to copy the Hyūga's taijutsu completely, she knew it would only cause them problems with the clan in the future, but mixing bits of it into her normal taijutsu was helpful. And with the Byakugan at her disposal recreating the deadlier aspects of the style was possible for her – but she still had a long way to go before she was anywhere near the level Neji or Hinata had been.

Instead she drew a trench knife from her hip pouch, one of the few weapons she had experience with before arriving in the past, and channeled her wind affinity through it. Pivoting on her feet she spun in a near complete circle, lashing out with her knife. The three ninja easily moved out of the way, but were still caught by the wind chakra. One grasped at her neck, her gray eyes wide upon realizing her throat had been cut. The other two were taller and instead took damage to their flack jackets, chest, or shoulders.

"How the hell!" one growled, noticing the cloth covering the redhead's eyes. Nagisa snorted and sped at them, kicking and punching, her knife still in her hand but in a reverse grip. Occasionally she'd serge her wind chakra through it, making cuts – some deep and bloody, others shallow and paper-thin appear on the Iwa-nin's bodies.

They put up a good fight. She had to back off to avoid one who mixed their taijutsu and sword-work so well together that if she'd been any less flexible or skilled she'd have been disemboweled twice over. Eventually, she got sick of being on the defense and threw her knife into the ground, before using what improved chakra control she had to pull-a-Sakura. Taking a running jump into the sky, she cocked her right fist back and precisely channeled her chakra into and around her fist.

" _ **Dattebayo!"**_ she shouted as her fist connected with the flat side of Yokumo of Iwa's sword. The man's eyes widened, having intended to twist the blade so to cut the seemingly-blind girl across the chest. Instead he felt like he'd been punted by the Yonbi (Son Gokū to those who knew the Four-tails' name).

His sword rattled and then shattered into little shards all at once, and when the her fist sailed into his face he was blasted twenty feet back, the ground turning up from the chakra-wave her punch caused. While still alive, Yokumo of Iwa was down for the remainder of the fight with many broken bones.

"Shit," one swore under her breath, looking at the panting redhead who was slowly unclenching her fist. With her ken eyesight she saw chakra burns which were quickly healing up. "What the hell is she... no blind person could do this, ninja or not!"

"Keep it together, Sorano," her fiance beside her said, glancing back at his teammate who remained unresponsive.

Nagisa panted slightly, though her chakra was hard to deplete she had felt the effects of that last move. For a split second her control over her chakra had faltered, breaking the bones in her hand as a result, but unlike the man now unconscious and broken, hers healed within moments of breaking thanks to Kurama.

She could see why Tsunade and Sakura were two of the only ones to master the Strength of a Hundred seal in her timeline, and why Sakura wore gloves. She'd never seen Tsunade-baachan wearing gloves when she fought, but maybe that was due to having more control and experience than Sakura.

Together Sorano and Taichi of Iwa attacked the distracted redhead – but within seconds of their movement the girls had snapped around to look directly at them. Being unable to see her eyes, which both assumed useless, this nearly made them stop, but as jōnin in the midst of a war they ignored the oddity.

A few feet away a shadow clone of Nagisa was crouched down next to Chōza, checking his chakra coils for any damage or irregularities with her Byakugan (not that the man knew that) and healing him. While she worked he sized her up, noticing she couldn't be older than seventeen or eighteen.

Her hair was long and straight (there might have been a touch of a wave in places). She wore practical shinobi clothes and a traveling cloak. Her skin was neither pale or tan, but a peach tone, while her eyes were a mystery. He'd seen blind civilians before, but never a blind ninja.

Most who lost their sight retired – some worked as Academy teachers and others, shamed, chose to become shut-ins or worse. None more so than the Hyūga and Uchiha clans who prided themselves on their eyes. Yet this woman didn't have any issue fighting off jōnin, and she seemed to know at least the basic's of healing as well.

"There, I've done what I can," she said, standing. "Are you alright?"

Chōza nodded, groaning as he stood, but otherwise fine. Looking over to where his best friends and comrades fought, he noticed the woman's companion for the first time. "I'm fine. Thank you for helping... though I have to wonder why you did and what village you're associated with."

"We're not affiliated with any current villages," she said, a sad undertone to her voice. "let's just say I couldn't in good conscience leave you three to fight alone – not so out numbered."

He frowned but let it go. He'd keep his guard up, in case they were double crossed by these strangers, but until then he was glad to have the help. The two rejoined the fight.

On the other side of the battlefield, Indra was helping Shikaku and Inoichi out. He didn't know the two in the future, not beyond a few words said in the streets or at the Uchiha mass funeral when he was eight, but he realized the disaster it would be if the three men died now.

He didn't know the exact dates Shikamaru, Ino, or Chōji were born in his timeline, but he didn't particularly want his former classmates to cease to exist should their father's die.

Like Nagisa, Indra refrained from outright using the Uchiha taijutsu stances and Sharingan. Instead he used a mix of taijutsu he'd either copied over the years or learned during his time in Sound. Despite his best efforts he couldn't completely stop himself from using the Uchiha style, but it didn't appear that Inoichi or Shikaku had noticed. His sword flashed around him, his speed almost too much for Inoichi and Shikaku to make out.

Shikaku had been watching the strangers in the moments he wasn't neck to neck with an enemy ninja. Noticing small things right away. Like how the man would look over at his female companion, as if to reassure himself she was alright. How he moved like a cat, sized up his opponents like a bird of prey, and struck like a snake. He never seemed concerned for him or Inoichi, but kept them in his line of sight at all times – ready to move if they needed aid.

The way he fought and moved, the ninjutsu he showed (fire release and lightning release primarily), and his skill with a sword led him to one conclusion – this man was very, very dangerous. He was holding back, but so was the kunoichi – who he'd observed just as well. They were jōnin at the least... Kage level in the worst case scenario.

He didn't know how right he was. They were holding back, both to protect their identities and because the battle would have been over too quickly – questions would be asked, questions they didn't want to answer. But after facing a goddess hellbent on screwing humanity over, there was little the two found a challenge anymore. Other than each other, that is.

Finally, the three Konoha ninja and two travelers met in the middle of the battlefield, some breathing more heavily than others. Nagisa rubbed her stomach where a deep gash was healing over slowly, and Indra nursed a few cuts and a dislocated shoulder (which Nagisa took quick work of, popping it back into place with little more than a look of warning to her comrade). Chōza was the least injured thanks to Nagisa's prior healing, but Shikaku and Inoichi looked like they'd seen better days.

"Do you two want me to heal you?" she offered, looking at them through her blindfold. Shikaku and Inoichi looked to Chōza who nodded.

"It's fine," he muttered, letting them know they didn't have to worry about her killing them instead of healing them (which was well within a medical ninja's power).

They nodded and Nagisa approached, going through quick hand seals and hovering her glowing hands over their wounds. After a few minutes of concentration and focus she released a breath she'd not known she was holding, lowered her hands, and backed away – closer to Indra. She'd only a few weeks of practice as a medic, what little Benihime had begun teaching her and what the Tigers had continued to teach her in preparation for learning the Strength of a Hundred seal.

It was almost like their version of sage training – the only requirement was perfect control, or as close to perfect chakra control and mastery of the Strength of a Hundred seal as one could get. Since the Tigers hadn't had a summoner since Benihime the only other one capable of passing on the knowledge of the seal was Tsunade, who learned from Mito (who had learned from her mother, and so on). It was very different from working with the toads who were more taijutsu and ninjutsu based as a clan.

The Tigers on the other had, while considered to be deadly in combat because of their predator status, also focused on chakra in general and things that could be done with it. Be it ninjutsu, genjutsu, or medical-ninjutsu. She had no skill in genjutsu (even as her chakra control improved everyday) and no real interest in it either, but she was proud to say she was progressing well in medical-ninjutsu. She couldn't help but think Tsunade-baachan would've been proud.

"Thanks," Shikaku said rubbing his ribs, which had been broken in three places. They were just really sore and tender now. He'd get them looked at in Konoha to be sure nothing had been missed.

"Yeah, we were getting pretty overrun there," Inoichi said. "I've never seen you in Konoha before... are you part of one of the minor villages?" He looked them over for a forehead protector of any kind.

"Just traveling ninja," Nagisa chirped, smiling widely.

"If the threats over, we should go. We have business in the capital," Indra said, looking down at the redhead.

"Huh... oh right. I guess we do," Nagisa said, rubbing the back of her neck. She looked passed them, in the direction of Konoha before smiling. "It looks like your backup is almost here as well... so this is goodbye, I guess."

"Are you sure you don't need any medical attention?" Chōza asked. "You were nearly bisected by that last attack."

Shikaku and Inoichi looked taken back, seeing as the girl didn't act as if she'd been injured that badly, and Indra looked Nagisa over with a critical eye. Looking her over the Nara and Yamanaka could see where she'd been wounded, where her clothes had been cut, but there was no over flowing bloody wound – just red scabbed over skin poking out from beneath cloth.

Nagisa laughed sheepishly. "No, I'm fine. I'll be healed before you know it, ttebayo!"

"I see, thank you again for the help."

Shikaku looked at them with inner suspicion, his focus mostly on the redhead. You didn't get many redheads in the Land of Fire, and that shade of red... it was almost unheard of. As they started to leave he called out, "Can we at least have your names?"

Indra stopped and looked back from where they'd started walking off, in the direction of the capital as they'd said, with calm onyx eyes. "It's better if you don't."

And the two continued walking away, almost as if they'd never gotten involved at all. A few minutes later the team from Konoha arrived, just as the Ino-Shika-Chō team had secured the living Iwa-nin for the T&I unit. Had Nagisa and Indra stayed a few more minutes they would've been faced with a spiky-haired blond with clear blue eyes (and something of a resemblance to Nagisa) leading his team of chūnin and jōnin to what he expected to be a bloodbath.

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 **AN: So... it's been a while. I'm sorry for the lack of updates recently, it just seems this year gets busier and busier. I won't go into excuses, other than I simply haven't had the time or the inspiration as of late. I do continue to write and I hope to update quite a few soon, no promises though (as I can't predict when something will come up). Until the next update, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. After this chapter things will begin to pick up, both for Nagisa and Indra's relationship and the Kannabi Bridge arc.**


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